Armored Core For Answer: Silent Howling
by Zyble
Summary: During the time of the Cradles, Jonas Gavada is a Lynx piloting his Next, the 'Silent Howl'. After a mission goes badly, help arrives in the form of another Lynx who extends an invitation for him to join his mercenary team. Jonas begins his new journey trying to figure out what is worth fighting for in a world rules by Corporations. This is a prequel to For Answer.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Silent Howling beckons

These times are bleak. The world has become so polluted that it is barely habitable and wars are waged constantly. A group of corporations banded together to form the League of Ruling Companies. This League then constructed huge aerial ships known as cradles. Half of the world's population now live in these floating habitats. It is only in these cradles, 7000 metres above the surface that the air is clean and safe enough to breath. However this is only seen as a temporary solution. The Arteria facilities that provide a steady power supply to these Cradles causes so much pollution that it will one day reach the Cradles anyway.

On the ground however it is a different story. The different companies fight against each other for power and control. As they each tried to get the better of the other they decided to strengthen themselves by introducing Arms Forts. These huge weapons of mass destruction can level cities in minutes. It is a true display of company might at its finest. Then you have Nexts or Armored Cores. These Nexts are hulking big mechs that have been known to take on armies and survive. Their Lynx pilots battled hard during the Lynx war but now many have succumbed to mercenary work after the Arms Forts were introduced. Some Nexts still work for their respective companies but most of them now work as freelancers, which works in the companies favour. During the Lynx war many pilots died and since then, many have arisen in their stead. One Lynx pilot in particular now stands outside a research facility surrounded by smaller more fragile mechs… Waiting for something.

Ten minutes had passed and in the distance nothing stirred. Unfortunately those ten minutes felt like an hour. The calm kept Jonas wide awake. The storm; Jonas could handle but the calm before it is what was terrifying him. The thought of death heading towards you scared him, but ironically staring it in the face to him, was fine. Jonas was a mercenary, like many Lynx during this time. He fought for the highest bidder with no regrets. And the highest bidder today was the Omer Science Corporation. They tasked him with the mission to help defend one of their research centres against the Global Armaments Corporation. As he sat in the cockpit of his Next, Jonas took off his helmet and ruffled his longish brown hair. As he put his helmet back on, the communicator spoke into his ears.

"Five more minutes until they arrive Jonas, Get ready." The familiar voice said.

"Why did you drop me here fifteen minutes before the battle even begins? I could have destroyed an Arms Fort in that time." The familiar voice over the communicator laughed for a few seconds.

"Destroy an Arms Fort huh? Which one?"

"Uhh, I don't know. How about the Spirit of Motherwill."

"The Spirit of Motherwill!" The familiar voice laughed harder. This annoyed Jonas to a high degree.

"Shut up Jessie. How about you try piloting this thing? See how long you last."

"Hah, you'll never get me in of those things. I'm just your operator. Mission information and tactical analysis is my game. I think I'll stick to it. Oh and about mission information. Two minutes until the GA forces arrive." A silence hung around the cockpit for a good half a minute as he prepared his Next for combat. He was piloting a dark blue and black middleweight design. It sported mostly older Rosenthal corporation body parts with a rifle in his right hand, a laser blade attached to his left arm and a missile launcher mounted on his back. Jonas had named his Next, Silent Howl.

"What am I up against?" Jonas asked with a quizzical look on his face no-one could see.

"A few squads of Normals and a few squads of MTs, nothing too fancy. Don't forget, you have a defence force of two squads of Normals working with you. Use them." Jonas looked at his assistance. They were thin, lightweight Normals with laser rifles and a shield. Par the course for the high tech companies like Omer Science.

"Will do." In the distance Jonas could see them. The dense mist surrounding the facility made it easy for GA to drop off their forces close to the research centre which is probably why Omer Science hired him to help out. Even though he could see them, Jonas did nothing. He needed them to get closer. This however didn't stop the defence force from taking the initiative. As they moved towards the attackers, their commanding unit called to Jonas over the comms.

"Alpha and Beta Squad moving to intercept. Don't let them get too close. They're after the base, not us. Chances are they'll take any chance they have to attack it."

"This is Silent Howl. Get them a bit closer and I'll… Wait, we have additional targets!"

"I see them. Helicopters, the big ones to." There was a slight quiver in the commander's voice.

"Confirmed. There's six of them. They'll tear them apart out there". The moment Jessie finished her sentence Jonas boosted towards them along the ground and then took to the sky, straight towards the helicopters. He aimed his rifle and fired at the one in the middle. It took about two shots to take it out. He passed the remaining helicopters who noticed that he'd taken out their comrade. Each of the five remaining choppers fired a barrage of missiles each. Jonas did a 180 degree turn to face the missiles but he quick boosted to the side and the majority passed him on his left. A couple of the later missiles impacted his Primal Armour, lighting it up a sickly green. Once again Jonas aimed his rifle and flew towards the choppers and took out another two. He was about to pass through the squads middle when he quick boosted to the left and flanked them on their side. The helicopters couldn't react fast enough to the quick attack. Only one of them managed to fire some more missiles before the last three helicopters were destroyed. Jonas cut his engines and he plummeted towards the surface causing the missiles to shoot right over him. After that engagement Jonas had only one third of his energy reserves left. Luckily they recharged when Jonas wasn't using his boosters. Just before he hit the ground Jonas flared up his thrusters again to stop him from hitting it too hard.

"We've just lost Alpha squad, Beta is taking a beating!" The commander called to him, panic in his voice.

Jonas turned towards the main force. His allies had eliminated some of the enemies, all but 2 MTs had been taken out but there was still a full squad and a half of Normals. These Normals were big, boxy, slow and equipped with bazookas and missile launchers. Standard equipment from a company that favoured loud and powerful ballistic weaponry. Jonas boosted towards the attackers right flank, taking the remaining MTs out with one shot to each. MTs were terribly weak reverse jointed walkers with a machine gun on top; ancient weapons for an advanced time.

He was close enough to the Normals now to use his laser blade. A long green laser shot out of the hilt attached to the left side of the arm. He swung at his prey. The blade shredded through the mid section, slicing it in two. A small explosion from his enemy signalled its demise. Before the other Normals had a time to react to the attack on their flank, Jonas had quick boosted to his right and around to the back of the remaining enemies, taking out another three with shots from his rifle. Jonas stopped and took to the sky. Flying directly over the Normals and taking out another one with some shots to its head. He turned on the spot while still in the sky to face them who in return faced Jonas. He counted four more targets; each one fired its bazooka at him. Jonas quick boosted to the right and all but two of the rounds impacted his Primal Armour, weakening it a great deal. The force of the shots got through his armour and damaged his Next, denting it in places. Warning light signalled that his left arm had been damaged. Jonas responded to this by bringing his back mounted missile launcher to bear on them. Using a combination of missiles and rifle shots, the remaining Normals were dispatched quickly. Jonas hit the floor with a mighty crash. He breathed a sigh of relief. Looking around he saw that three allies from the defence force remained.

"Well done Jonas. Mission accomplished, the base is safe." Jessie said to him. There was a slight hint of relief in her voice just like at the end of every mission.

"This is commander Beacon of Beta squad. Thanks for giving us a hand out there."

"Wait, there's something else coming. It's… It's a Next!" Jessie's panic induced warning shot Jonas out of his relaxed state as he readied himself for another fight. Jonas felt the strain of piloting his Next hit him slightly. And with his left arm damaged he was already at a disadvantage. The enemy Next was overboosting towards them. Jonas hadn't prepared for this but never the less, it was coming, his possible demise.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Unknown Foe

The back dot in the distance got forever larger as did Jonas' fear of his apparent demise. The speed it was approaching him at was tremendous due to it overboosting, a method of outputting tremendous energy for speed. Jonas shook his head and steeled himself for the coming battle, if he didn't focus he really would die. The Next approaching was now close enough to make out. It was completely black, which was fitting for how he felt. It looked like it used many Global Armaments parts as it had a big boxy look to it. The Silent Howl's booster began to glow as Jonas readied himself.

The Enemy Next in the distance slowed to a regular boosting speed and changed direction slightly. This was followed by a brief flash. A second later, a blood curdling scream came through his communicator that was so bad, it made Jonas cringe. He turned to his left and saw a crater where his allies once stood, now nothing but ashen remains and a large crater. Jonas swore loudly and finally began to move. The Black Next had now brought his attention square at the Silent Howl.

"Jonas, calm down. I've just got word from Omer. They knew this Next was coming and they hired assistance just before we dropped you. I know what you're thinking, and I'm pissed off to. Just hang on for a little while. Concentrate on evasion and don't push yourself." These words from Jessie made Jonas think. What was Omer achieving by not telling him about the Next. Jonas shook his head again and focused. To lose concentration was to be defeated and he wasn't going to let that happen.

The Black Next fired at Jonas with the same cannon on its back that took the Normals out with ease. A quick boost to the left allowed Jonas to evade the cannon fire. The resulting explosion that ensued behind him was intense.

"A grenade launcher! One hit by that and I'm a dead man." Jonas muttered to himself.

Jonas instinctively took to the sky and began firing at the Black Next from above while circling it. The shots hit the Primal Armour which only helped slow the bullets down. They still hit the Black Next. Unfortunately this Next was a heavyweight GA model. All these types of Nexts had amazing defence against ballistic ordinance. It was going to take more than a rifle to crack it. The Black Next raised its Gatling gun equipped on the right hand and let loose a wall of bullets. The Silent Howl's Primal Armour lit up as it attempted to repel the rounds. Jonas noticed that his shielding was draining fast and quick boosted left, then right and finally straight forwards putting himself behind the Next. The Gatling gun had done some damage to his next but it was minor thanks to the Primal Armour. Just scratches and some holes on the Howl's plating. However his shielding was almost completely gone. Jonas felt naked without the protection it gave and the Black Next took full advantage of this by turning around and firing his grenade launcher once again. Jonas only just managed to avoid it by quick boosting to his left.

Jonas readied his missile launcher and fired a barrage of missile. The black Next's primal armour flashed green as the missile hit their mark, however at first no damage was visible but he could make out what he thought were scorch marks made by some of the missiles. The black paint made it hard to tell. Jonas swore to himself for the lack of damage done. The Silent Howl was a lot lighter, faster and more manoeuvrable that his mysterious foe however this came at the price of durability. Two bazooka round had heavily damaged his arm while a barrage of missile and hardly phased his enemy at all. The strain of piloting his Next was becoming apparent now. Soon his movements would become sluggish and less skilled. Just as Jonas began to fear the worst a message came through the communicator.

"This is the Next Linebreaker. Omer hired me to lend a hand, looks like you could use it." Jonas in his mind cheered as his saviour had arrived. Times like this would make it easy to let your guard down but Jonas felt a new sense of invigoration shoot through him. Things were looking up, with two versus one, things would turn in his favour.

Jonas looked to the sky and saw a dropship hovering overhead. The bay doors on the underbelly opened to reveal a blue interior. But something could be made out as it plummeted towards the battlefield.

"Linebreaker here. Combat drop successful. Engaging target." With that said a huge wall of bullets rained down on where the enemy Next stood; forcing it to move unless it wanted to get torn to pieces by the sheer amount of firepower that rained down like a hailstorm. Now the enemy was on the evasive giving Jonas ample breathing space to recover. Linebreaker's boosters slowed its decent which allowed Jonas to get a good look at his ally. The Next was a dark green colour with red horizontal lines in places. It was big like the enemy he was trying to best but more curved. The torso of the Next was huge; it must have been one of the newer models. Jonas noted the two Gatling cannons attached to the back and the bazooka on its left arm. This 'Linebreaker' was designed for two things. Too take loads of hits and dish out just as many. It landed and boosted full pelt toward the enemy firing away it's blizzard of hot lead.

The Silent Howl's Primal Armour had almost fully recharged. Jonas took the opportunity of his opponent being on the defensive to attack. The Howl reloaded it's rifle and brought it's missile launcher up. This was the best time to start his assault. His back thrusters propelled him forwards towards the Next followed by a brisk take off. He circled clockwise around his opponent who was trading ordinance on the ground with his ally. He waited for his Fire Control System to lock onto his one and only preoccupied opponent. It felt like silence had filled the cockpit as he waited for that certain sound… there it was, the blip. The blip noise that signalled target lock.

"Now!" he yelled as he cut his engines. He fell towards the ground giving out a large battlecry, firing both weapons. A mixture of bullets and missiles zoomed towards his unsuspecting opponent. Jonas wouldn't let up though, he kept firing. The foe's Primal Armour was bright green signalling that the missiles and rounds were making contact. Only metres above the ground he gave a quick boost to the right, breaking his fall but keeping his speed up. Linebreaker's Gatling cannons didn't let up either. Most of the rounds were hitting their mark.

This was it… the turning point. The Black Next's Primal Armour flickered for a moment and then broke. Kojima Particles that made up the shielding fluttered and danced around signalling that the best defence a Next had was gone. All it had now was his plating and against two opponents, it was nothing more that tissue paper.

"It's weakened… keep hitting it, don't let up!" Cried the Lynx of the Linebreaker, and Jonas didn't, he boosted backwards and jumped up into the air, hovering there as he let loose another barrage of missile. The Black Next avoided these by a few skilful quickboosts. However he had his back to the Linebreaker who fired his arm mounted bazooka. It impacted square on the foes back. The Next staggered from the impact but regained its composure. The few seconds given by the staggering enemy was the perfect time to strike and Jonas grabbed it with two hands. He fired both weapons. Bullets hit their mark, leaving large bullet holes. The missiles however hit the enemy just as he quickboosted to the side hitting its arm that was holding the Gatling gun, blowing it clean off. It crumpled to the floor with a crash. Jonas couldn't help but grin at the mortally wounded enemy as it staggered about. It wasn't giving up though. It quick boosted to the side and fired it grenade launcher at Linebreaker. But due to the damage it has received the grenade went wide and was easily avoided.

"Ok, it's time to finish this." The Linebreaker's Lynx announced with a tone of authority. He aimed it's bazooka at the enemy and lunged at the wounded foe, like a predator leaping to finish off its prey. The Black Next aimed its grenade launcher at Linebreaker in an attempt to hold off the assault, but this was quickly put in vain as Linebreaker fired his bazooka. The bazooka round seemed to fly in slow motion towards the opponent. The round impacted the Next's head, shattering it with ease and decimating the upper half of the core. It was over.

The defeated foe stood there for a second before falling to one knee. A voice came through Jonas' communicator that he didn't recognise.

"No! Not here, not now! You damn bastards. I can't die after I got this far." Jonas figured that this was the voice of the enemy he spent so much time trying to kill. To hear those last dying words gave Jonas a sense of calm.

He finally relaxed. Jessie's voice came through the comms, and he was damn pleased to hear it.

"The defence facility has been protected and is undamaged, mission accomplished. You're first Next on Next battle… So, how do you feel?"

"Bloody exhausted. I've never had such a hard fight." Was the only reply he could think of, the Linebreaker suddenly interrupted him.

"You fought well there Lynx, I watched the whole battle on the live security feed as I was arriving. You fought very well. What's your name?" Jonas was more than a little flushed from all the praise he was receiving but never the less he replied back.

"Jonas, Jonas Gavada. And yours?"

"I'm Seth Torbrasko." So the saviour had revealed himself. Jonas felt good that he could pin a name to the person who probably saved his life. At the facility, large hanger doors opened and a small squad of Normals walked out.

"This is defence squad Gamma. We're here to secure the area. You two can head into the hanger bay now." With all this said and done. Jonas disengaged his Primal Armour and walked for the newly formed light blue hole that had opened at a part of the complex. It seemed Seth was doing the same. Jessie's voice came over the communicator once more.

"The dropship is on its way to pick you and Silent up. E.T.A 10 minutes." Jessie announced. As Jonas walked Silent Howl into the hanger bays he could see he holding bays designed for Nexts. He backed up into one the bays. The bay shuddered as it raised the Next up slightly until the core was level with the catwalk behind it. The catwalk extended out until it just touched the back of Silent Howl. A compartment on its back opened up and a chair reversed back and swivelled around. Jonas stood up and walked onto the catwalk taking his helmet off. He ruffled his brown hair. He looked to his left and saw another pilot stepping out. The pilot looked straight at Jonas and walked towards him.

"Hi Jonas, I'm Seth. Good to meet ya." He thrust out a hand at Jonas with a smile. Jonas of course grasped it and shook smiling back. Jonas was slightly shocked though. He was expecting the Lynx of the heavyweight Linebreaker to be a huge muscular brute. But no, Seth was his size and height although it was apparent he was older. He had short and spiky blond hair with a small ponytail sticking out the back. Jonas couldn't help but notice his emerald green eyes were looking into his own sky blue ones, like he was staring deep into his very soul. What was he looking for, Jonas couldn't help but wonder. Jonas broke the handshake and gave Seth a quizzical look. Seth nodded to himself as if he had just answered a question that had plagued his mind for centuries.

"When you have finished your debriefing with Omer, return here. I have a proposition for you Jonas." Seth turned and walked back towards his own Next but kept going. Jonas wasn't sure where he was heading but it didn't matter, Jonas had his own place to be, and he headed there. Along the way however Jonas couldn't help but think.

"What proposition?"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Decision

"What do you mean your intel was off!?"

"We didn't know that a Next would turn up until the last moment, after we hired you."

"But you knew just as we deployed Jonas onto the field, the least you could have done is tell us so we could prepare."

"We thought it might have distracted the Lynx."

"Distracted him?!"

"Exactly, that's why we covertly hired the Next Linebreaker to assist you, you would get the help you would need and the coming threat didn't alert you the slightest during the first phase of the mission."

Jessie and the Omer Science representative were busy slugging it out across a large conference table. Jonas sat there next to an angry stood upright Jessie who was yelling at the calm, collected and smartly dressed rep sat at the other end of the table. The calm man put his hands together.

"Your mission earnings have been deposited into your account and your Next has been loaded onto your dropship. Would there be anything else you require before you leave?" It was obvious that this rep wanted the almost hysterical operator out of his hair, and it seemed the mention of monetary reward worked well, this is mainly because she shut up and sat down. Jonas leant forward onto the table.

"No thank you, we'll be leaving shortly. However I need to speak to the Lynx of the Linebreaker about something before I go."

"Very well; it's not my place to pry. Your dropship is prepped and ready for launch. Just leave when you're able." With this said; Jonas stood up and heading for the door.

"Thanks." Jessie got up after him and followed him out but not before she glared towards the rep and decided to get the last word in.

"Don't think that we'll be working for you again anytime soon."

"Of course." The rep replied with a straight face. It seemed that this man had godly patience as he didn't once show signs of any annoyance at the face of the operator.

The two of them were walking down a long corridor retracing their steps. This facility was a big place which made it easy to get lost. It had been an hour since he docked the Silent Howl in the hanger bay. Since then he had made it to his dropship where a change of clothes resided. It wasn't practical to walk everywhere in a pilot's jumpsuit holding a helmet. He now wore some dark blue jeans and a black t-shirt. This was much more comfortable for Jonas to walk in; he felt that the jumpsuits were always so restrictive.

"Bastards, keeping intel from us, What's the point of briefings if they don't tell you everything hmm? Corporate slime, the lot of them." It seemed to Jonas that this topic still burned within Jessie. He only nodded to her. The next 10 minutes consisted of Jessie muttering and Jonas repeatedly nodding to her. Jonas had other things on his mind to worry about the woman scorned. Eventually they made it to the hanger. The rep was true to his word. The dropship was inside the hanger ready to go. However there was another dropship next to it. It was a slightly different larger model.

"Ok. I'll head for the dropship and get her checked over. You go talk to that Seth bloke. Got your radio?" Jonas patted his trouser pocket showing that it was there. Jessie nodded to him and walked in the general direction of the dropship. Jonas headed for the catwalk where he was told to return to. He walked briskly which only proved his eagerness to quieten his mind. Surly enough, there he was, now wearing casual clothes like his self. He was wearing black jeans, a red shirt and on top of that, a light grey sleeveless bomber jacket. Seth turned to him and smiled slightly.

"Ahhh Jonas, you made it, how was your debriefing?" Jonas turned towards his dropship at the other end of the hanger.

"Troublesome."

"Sorry to hear it. Ok, let's get straight to the point; my proposition." The two last words made Jonas shoot back round. Seth noticed his eagerness and laughed under his breath.

"I lead a small group of Lynx that operates independently of the companies. Mercenaries if you will. I want you to join us."

"Me? But why?" Jonas eyes gave the distinct look of confusion which Seth picked up on.

"Because you proved yourself to be tenacious; I like that, besides I'm always on the lookout for more Lynx but so many of them just prefer to work alone like loners. And in the days of these Arms Forts, we need to band together to be effective. As it is said, there's strength in numbers." There was truth in these words and Jonas realized that. There was a slight pause as he thought to himself.

"How many Lynx are in this group?"

"Me and two others. I have enough room for four members overall so you can be the fourth. You have to admit to yourself, Omer did screw you over royally, it's in your best interest is well to join us." That much was true, if it wasn't for Seth and the Linebreaker, Jonas would be nothing more than a corpse in scrap metal. He couldn't help but think that being in a team would offer more benefits to him than working alone. However, Jonas learnt long ago that being hasty led to a hasty death; he had to play it slow.

"I'll tell you what; I want to see your base and other members before I make my decision. You ok with that?" Seth closed his eyes and looked up into the sky while putting his hands into his jacket pockets. About ten seconds had past while Seth thought.

"Fine you can come back with me, however only you. Your operator, Next and dropship crew go home. If you wish to join us, then they can come, if not. We send you home and to be on the safe side. I'm not showing you the location of the base." Seth's face turned to a stern one as he eyed Jonas up for a response. It was obvious that Seth had hoped for Jonas to make up his mind then and there.

"Ok, I'm in. I like the sound of the grand tour." If this was a trap then Jonas would be walking right into it. But his instincts told him Seth was being sincere in his proposal. And in the end, instincts were a Lynx most trusted ally. He hoped that his instincts would not betray him today.

Jonas got his radio out of his pocket and put it to his mouth.

"Jessie. I'm taking a ride on Seth's dropship to his base for a while. Take Silent Howl home and get her patched up and resup…" Jonas was suddenly cut off by a scream on the other end.

"You're what?! Are you insane? It's a trap. You'll be killed!" Jonas looked at Seth awkwardly who just laughed out loud at the pissed off voice on the other end of the radio.

"Just go home, I'll radio you if I need anything ok." It almost seems like through the screams and rants, his last order didn't get through. Jonas flicked the radio off. He'd turn it back on later when she mellowed out.

"So, you ready to go? Dropship's waiting for us."

"You realize I'm taking a big risk by coming with you." Jonas shot Seth a quizzical look.

"I know." Seth and Jonas walked around the complex heading for the bottom level of the hanger where the dropships were. The distinct sound of engines could be heard from the direction they were heading. The sound was loud at first be gradually got quieter until nothing could be heard.

After about fifteen minutes they made it to Seth's dropship and Seth beckoned Jonas inside. The Linebreaker was already loaded on to it, but the bay doors were already closed. Seth left Jonas to his own devices as he headed for the cockpit. There he tapped the pilot on the shoulder who in turn looked towards Seth.

"Ok, take us home." With that said the pilot tapped a number of buttons and pulled some levers. The whole ship began to shudder as it rose up. Seth walked out of the cockpit as the pilot was communicating with the facility's flight control. Jonas was found leaning against the wall of one of the corridors in deep thought. Seth walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, there's a small room out back where I think we should get to know each other a little better. Especially if you're going to be in our small band of mercs." Seth walked off waving for Jonas to follow him. Jonas just shrugged and walked after his possible new teammate.

The dropship raced along the runway, gaining speed before taking off. It was gaining altitude at an astonishing pace. When it got high enough, it shot on its afterburners and charged its way towards its destination. The destination that would change Jonas' life forever.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Getting there

Towards the back of the dropship lay a small room with a large semi-circular window looking over the top of the front end of the large craft. The room was occupied by two chairs, a small table and a cabinet with snacks and drinks. The newest addition to this room was two men who had walked in about five minutes ago. One of the additions to the room was fixing up some drinks and sandwiches while the other sat on one of the chairs. The man fixing the drinks turned towards the one sitting down.

"So Jonas, where are you from?" Seth asked as he sat opposite Jonas on the small round table, bringing the refreshments with him.

"The Bernard and Felix Foundation colony Havita. Well, what's left of it." Jonas looked down at the steaming black liquid. Its look resembled that of black coffee. However due to the radiation that inhabits the planet, most food was now processed and handed out by the companies. So there was no way this coffee was fresh. He picked up the mug, blew on it, took a sip and set it back down again.

"What do you mean, what's left of it?" Seth asked with a good deal of confusion, taking a bite out of his sandwich.

"During the Lynx war, the colony was attacked by some company and almost eradicated. I forget which one." Jonas replied with a shrug.

"Why'd they attack?"

"We were working on the top secret project Motherwill at the time. I guess the secret wasn't as secret as I'd hope."

"What did you do after that then?"

"Well me and my best friend Jessie made it out alive. We didn't know who else did. But B.F.F denied all knowledge of the colony, the project or the attack. Claiming it was just a story to ruin its reputation. I never found out if my parents made it out alive." Jonas looked at his sandwich. The bread was thick and grainy and the meat inside it resembles that of canned beef. Anyways it looked good after the battle so Jonas wasn't so picky. Picking it up, he took a large bite and munched contently.

"So I suppose since then you've been a merc right?" Jonas swallowed his bite and looked towards Seth.

"Yeah. We operated out of the remains of Havita. No-one went there anymore, it was the perfect spot. I gathered all the survivors I could and we made a go of it. We're doing alright for ourselves so far."

"Fair enough. If you do decide to join, it won't be hard at all to integrate your team into ours. Besides I started alone to. That is, until I met Ellysia." Seth leaned back on his and closed his eyes.

"Ellysia? Who's she."

"My girlfriend. And also second in command."

"I see. When did you meet her then?"

"About half a year ago now. She was my assigned teammate for a mission I got." Seth sat forward again. If he was thinking of her, he was done now.

"Ok then. So how much further is to this base of yours hmm?

"About an hour. I'm going to check up on the others guys. There's a bed there so take a load off if you wanna." Seth pointed to the bed in the corner and walked off but not before quickly chugging some more coffee and picking up what was left of his sandwich.

Jonas got up out of his chair and looked out the window as he pondered his thoughts. However without hesitation he lay on the bed and closed his eyes. It may only be an hour, but it was better than nothing. A minute had passed and Jonas had fallen sound asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Underground

The tires screeched as the dropship landed on the runway. Jonas had woken up and strapped himself into the chair ten minutes beforehand. The two pilots unstrapped themselves and headed towards the exit. Jonas looked somewhat nervous. So Seth had to ask.

"Hey… Are you feeling alright? You look kinda nervous."

"I'm fine. I've always hated the calm before the storm." Seth placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Ahh don't worry. You'll be fine." The two stepped off the dropship onto the runway. Jonas couldn't help but look around himself and what he saw was… nothing. The area around him was barren. However, there was a large elevator which led underground. Small vehicles were driving off it and heading in their direction. Among all the people going about their business, someone ran up to Seth.

"Ahh Johanson, how're we going?"

"Moneys been deposited into your account and the hanger is ready for your Next's arrival… Who's this?" Johanson looked at Jonas and raised an eyebrow.

"I take it you got word from the report?"

"Ahh, so this is the person whose ass you saved." Jonas glared annoyingly at the now greatly amused Seth.

"Heh, yeah. He's the guy. I'm giving him the grand tour. He might be joining our rag tag group of rough mercs."

"Ha ha, alright then, whatever you say sir." Johanson walked off in the direction of the dropships loading ramp laughing, giving a quick wave in the progress. Seth looked at Jonas who was still glaring at him.

"Saved my ass huh?"

"Well I… uhh… maybe… Oh come on, you would have been screwed without me." Jonas turned around and pouted.

"Yeah alright. Where next then huh?" Seth turned towards a small elevator that nestled next the large service elevator which the Next would soon be loaded onto.

"Follow me. I'll take you to meet the crew." The two lynx walked towards the elevator, leaving behind them the hustle and bustle of the crewmen unloading the next off the dropship. The elevator was big enough to house at least 30 people.

"Just what is this place anyway?" Jonas couldn't help but ask.

"This place used to be a military base, the records and logs indicated that the previous owners abandoned it due to an unknown flying weapon, flying towards them. Obviously, this base wasn't a target at all, it's still standing. But the logs say that the weapon was Arms Fort sized. The people must have just pissed themselves and legged it."

"I see… Wait, did you say, flying Arms Fort? I didn't know such a thing existed."

"Hard to believe I know, most of the area west of here is greatly radiated by Kojima Particle. But this base was relatively untouched by it. So it's the perfect spot."

The elevator slowed its decent and stopped. The doors opened and revealed a cat walk suspended above what looked to be a gigantic staging area. People raced from place to place in preparation for Linebreaker's decent down the large elevator. The catwalk split to the right and ran around the large Next docking bay. Two windows and a door could be seen on the wall, like a room had been carved into it. Seth beckoned Jonas in the direction of the small room that overlooked the huge bay. As they were walking around Jonas couldn't help but have his eye caught by the huge next already docked in one of the four bays. It had four legs but was slimmer that the Linebreaker, indicating that this was a Next built for speed. But then again most quad legged Nexts were. The Next was a tan camouflage colour with a picture of a red crosshairs emblazed on one the side of one of the four legs. Seth stood outside the door ahead of Jonas.

"In here is one of our team members I told you about. I think introductions are in order, don't you?" Jonas stopped in front of Seth.

"Uhhh sure, why not." Seth opened the door and walked in, Jonas followed behind him, immediately analysing his surrounding to the finest detail. The room was mostly white with nothing special about it. A coffee maker sat on one of the metal cabinets that were neatly placed in the corner of the room and sink was embedded into the cabinet next to it. Next to the two windows was a metal table with very uncomfortable looking chairs tucked underneath them. The distinct difference being that one chair was occupied. Unfortunately the occupier was blocked by an old tattered looking newspaper. Seth leaned against the wall right next the door and looked at the newspaper, almost as if he could see right through it.

"Jonas, this is Takaru Tamisara." The newspaper shuddered immediately and began to slowly descend as this new character lowered the paper onto the table.

The paper laid there on the table revealing a man of Asian origins. His jet black hair was long enough to completely cover his ears and touch the back of his neck whilst having a two pronged fringe. He was wearing a simple white vest with the word 'Ego' written in large albeit faded black letters. Takaru eyed up Jonas, looking for something.

"This is it? This is the super amazingly cool thing you had to show me. And here's me thinking you were bringing me a new rifle." Takaru gave an almighty shrug. Jonas wasn't sure if he should be shocked or pissed off at this new face. Seth placed his hands on the table and smiled.

"Well you were wrong. This is our possible new recruit. Jonas Gavada." Jonas decided to try to make a good first impression by thrusting out his hand out. Takaru looked at this sign of peace and calmly rolled up his paper and placed it in the hand before getting up and walking out the door brushing passed Jonas.

"I want that back when you're done Jones." Takaru took a right turn and heading in the direction of his Next. A bit of distance was achieved between him and the room before anything was said. Jonas finally spoke up.

"Bit of an arsehole isn't he?" Jonas shrugged.

"And then again, he's the best we have. He's a bit of a prodigy when it comes to piloting Nexts. He's just playing about with you."

"Whatever you say." With that said, every speaker in the holding bay blasted out a voice that startled Jonas.

"Embrace has touched down on the airfield. Repeat, Embrace has touched down. Ellysia's home everyone." Jonas looked at the huge loading elevator and saw Linebreaker standing there along with small trucks carrying the weapon systems. Linebreaker moved suddenly and walked to its loading bay. All the dots that made people stood far away from its path as it walked and docked itself. The trucks drove off but not before being replaced with trucks and more personnel ready to receive Embrace. The loading elevator began to rise as it headed back for the surface.

Seth couldn't help but give a large grin.

"Looks like you're going to meet her sooner than I thought." Jonas sighed slightly.

"Here's hoping she's nicer than Takira."

"Takaru."

"Whatever."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: What's your answer?

It had been five minute since Seth had mentioned that he'd be meeting Ellysia earlier. In those five minute he had thought to himself the reason for still holding the newspaper. He couldn't help but have a look at the main headlines. This was mainly due to Jonas' inquisitive nature. Unfortunately it was the same as most newspapers. Seeing as all media was controlled by the companies, it was all nothing but propaganda. Every story in some way or another praised their respective company and brought all the others into a bad light. Jonas couldn't be doing with this 'absolute bollocks' as he liked to put it, so the newspaper was quickly thrown back onto the table in the small room. To pass the time, Jonas did what he did best. And that was asking questions.

"So where did you meet Ellysia exactly? You didn't into much depth earlier on." Seth was slightly taken aback by this question seeing as it was so sudden.

"Huh?! Well I uhh… met her on a mission I had once taken on. This was back when I was working alone. It was a mission from Rosenthal to attack a military staging facility owned by a rival company. Go in, kill things, and get out, easy. I had a choice of four different Lynx to have assigned to me. I'd pick one, then they would get the mission briefing is well. Ellysia wasn't my first choice. I picked some guy using nothing but missile launchers, but he didn't accept the mission. So I had to choose another. It was then that I picked Ellysia. She accepted so I met her at the operation zone. I liked her talents so I asked her, much like I did to you, if she wanted to join me in creating an independent mercenary group. It didn't take her long to accept. Two months after she joined me we became a couple. Takaru joined a month after that."

After Seth had finished his sentence a shudder rattled the catwalk they we're standing on. The elevator the two of them had taken was descending.

Time slowed down. Jonas wanted to meet Seth's girlfriend and the last Lynx in this team. Funnily enough, since he had gotten off the dropship, whether or not he'd join this team hadn't crossed his mind. It was almost like it was a trivial matter even if his choice would change his lifestyle and his life in general. He would have to make his decision soon; his company wouldn't be welcomed for long here without an answer. But Jonas was starting to warm to the idea, it seemed to benefit him too much to say no. But he'd bide his time as much as he can.

The sound of the descending elevator had stopped. Jonas' heart increased slightly, he was nervous. Luckily he wasn't showing it. The elevator opened and Jonas' heart skipped a beat.

The first words to come to his head when seeing this new individual was that her t-shirt was really tight. She looked in their general direction, waved and walked to them. Jonas eyed her up as much as he could. She was wearing light blue jeans. Her t-shirt was crimson with no defining features except that it might have been one size to small for her causing a small bit of her stomach to show. Her hair was a crimson colour matching her t-shirt and reached her shoulders.

"Hey Ellysia. What's up?" Seth had started the conversation. Ellysia hugged him before she answered.

"Not much, that mission was far too easy." She smirked menacingly.

"Good to hear. Easy money is good money." Ellysia looked at Jonas and smiled at him quizzically.

"Who's the new guy Seth?" Pointing a thumb at Jonas.

"Oh yeah, this is Jonas Gavada."

"Awesome, so you finally found our fourth member." Ellysia thrust out a hand at Jonas. Jonas grabbed it, shaking it lightly but firmly.

"Actually he isn't a member yet, he's still deciding." Ellysia's smile vanished instantly and she quickly withdrew her hand from the shake.

"Is that so? See you later Seth, I've got some stuff to do." Ellysia continued walking in the direction she was heading in. Jonas was confused, Seth saw this and spoke up not diverting his gaze from his woman.

"Don't worry Jonas, she isn't fond of outsiders. She will never accept you until you join us, and longer you take the more suspicious she will be when you do join."

Jonas heard a loud thud; he looked at the huge freight elevator and saw a very thin Next standing on it. The Next moved as it walked to its docking bay. This Next was built for speed, huge speed. What struck Jonas the most was that it colour was crimson. It seemed that a pattern developed around Ellysia and the colour red. Red had always been the colour of passion but unfortunately for him, red was also associated with danger. She would be a tricky one get to know. Seth looked at Jonas seriously, and tapped the back of his shoulder. Jonas swung round. The look on Seth's face made him worry.

"Jonas. I want you to come with me. It's time we discussed you answer." Seth immediately walked off. Jonas stood there stunned by the sudden change in atmosphere surrounding Seth. It's almost like he had two personalities. Needless to say, Jonas followed.

They walked for a bit. However, it seemed that route Seth was taking him seemed long and pointless, although, it did give Jonas some time to look around a bit more. Perhaps that was Seth's intention. To let Jonas have one last tour before the decision came. They finally stopped outside a big metal door. Seth swung it open and stepped inside beckoning Jonas in. After he entered this room Seth closed the door and flicked on the lights. The room was a basic bedroom, and had a bed, chair and some basic necessities. There was another door that probably led to the bathroom. Seth sat at his desk chair and spun around to face Jonas. He pointed to his bed.

"Sit Jonas, We need to discuss this now before I show you or say anything else about us."

"You want to know if I'll join your band of rough mercs hmmm?" Jonas joked but Seth was having none of it.

"That's the gist of it. You've seen the team, the base and our Nexts. I need an answer now. You've had ample time to think it over."

This was it. The time came. The life changing minute. Jonas looked down at his feet and thought hard, evidently showing it to Seth. There were so many advantages and disadvantages to working in a group.

You'd have added protection but the rewards would have to be split evenly…

Less freedom but more people to fall back on…

More laughs but more worries…

More strife but more happiness…

More people to betray you but more people to help you when it happens…

More people to whimper but ultimately…

MORE PEOPLE TO HOWL ALONGSIDE YOU IN THE NEVERENDING SILENCE…

Jonas looked at Seth with a huge smirk…

"I'm in…"


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Part of the gang

Jonas stood daydreaming on the landing pad as the last dropship of the day landed. For the past two weeks, dropships have been ferrying Jonas' Next and equipment from the Havita base to this new complex. Missions have been non-existent so it made the transfer a breeze. It seemed the integration of everything, including himself into the group of independent mercenaries went better than he could have hoped. It's just a shame that Takaru was still being awkward and Ellysia was hardly speaking to him.

Ellysia was a hard one to figure out. Seth said she was untrusting of newcomers, but he didn't realize to this extent. Every time he'd try to speak to her, after five minutes she say she has something to do or that she needs to talk to Seth urgently. Well, he at least found out that Ellysia's last name was Myst. Any other information on Ellysia was gained through Seth.

It seemed that according to Seth that Ellysia lives to protect the floating hope for mankind, the Cradles. Apparently, Ellysia has some family high up in the League and when the Cradle operation went underway; her family was accepted to join them. But because all Lynx had to be left behind on the ravaged Earth, Ellysia was left to rot in the never-ending struggle. Seth never found out how she became a Lynx, she kept that tightly under wraps. He even popped the question on why she's being so awkward with Jonas and all she said was that she didn't like the look of him.

Takaru on the other hand is obviously the comic relief of the group. At least, that was Jonas' opinion; the funny guy that you loved to hate. However it seemed that his ego was about the size of a Next and he had no trouble flaunting it. According to Takaru, he was the best Lynx out of everyone in the facility. He would constantly go on about how he was more awesome than everyone else. This might have all been a lie if Seth didn't keep agreeing with him.

Even though Takaru was the funny guy, he seemed just as secretive as Ellysia, but instead of just walking away, he hits the confrontation with his ego and never-ending wit. At least it didn't leave Jonas in an awkward position. But Takaru did divulge a small bit of background information of himself between the constant reminding of how he's the best Lynx the world had ever seen.

Takaru's older brother had become a Lynx during the Lynx war, seeing as many Lynx were dying during the war. The companies were looking for new recruits. Takaru's brother was one of them. Like himself, he was good, a little too good. His family apparently had a natural genetic defect that allowed them to have a higher AMS capacity and better skill than most average Lynx. Rosenthal sent his brother out on a suicide mission believing that his skills would come through for them. It was a risky venture that didn't pay off and he was deemed to be killed in action. Takaru abandoned Rosenthal after that blaming them for everything and adopted his brother's personality and fighting style to continue his name.

Not long after Jonas had accepted Seth's invitation, he had a nice long list of rules and conditions to worry about. Out of any earnings that Jonas makes, twenty percent of it get taken away to be used for base maintenance. This works out well for him seeing as he was losing nearly fifty percent towards his upkeep back at Havita. Plus if any mission gives the option of taking a wingman, another member of the team had to be taken if the option granted it. Seth said that this was to boost their recognition between the companies. If their success rate was high, they'd get more jobs. It was believed that companies thought that putting the team together doubled the chances of success. The final condition is that all missions are to be cleared through him first so he can take the proper measures to get everything ready to go.

All in all, he wasn't being asked of much but for someone working alone for so long, it would be hard to adapt. Even so, Jonas felt that he had made the right decision, his instincts didn't betray him. He had always thought of himself as the Lone Wolf, which was the reason behind the name of his Next. The one person who's efforts made no difference to the world. It was like his howls were silent, but no more. He had a team, people to back him up. All he needed to do was break this wall of insecurity surrounding everyone so that he would be accepted into the pack.

Jonas' daydreaming at the runway was cut short by the speaker blaring out a loud voice. This annoyed Jonas to a high degree, mainly because the sun was setting and Jonas liked sunsets, it allowed him to just loose himself in his thoughts. Nevertheless Jonas perked up his ears to listen to the speaker.

"Jonas Gavada, please report to the mission briefing room for a meeting with Seth. You got ten minutes, so move your ass!" Jonas sighed and started walking towards the small elevator that rested beside the huge busy freight elevator. He got in and pressed the descend button to take him into the underbelly of the beast he now calls his home.

Jonas wondered 'What does he want this time?' The elevator descended and opened its doors. Jonas traversed the catwalk seeing the Next docking bay that was empty a long while ago now filled. There was a sense of pride seeing Silent Howl besides other Nexts. It felt like he made the cut for a sports team. It was funny, no matter how many times Jonas navigated the twisting hallways of the base, he always got lost at least once a day. It came to the point where people knew he was going to ask for directions when they walked past him in the hallway. At this rate he would be called the 'Lost One'. Jonas didn't want that.

On the way to the briefing room Jonas spotted someone who through the integration hasn't changed a bit. Jessie stood there moaning to one of the technicians. The ticking time bomb he called his operator was still her usual self.

"Hey Jessie, what're you doing?" He called out. Jessie turned around to see what the cause of the shouting was, giving the technician the perfect opportunity to get out of there, and he grabbed it fiercely. He was gone like a shot.

"Hey you get back here; I'm not done with you yet! Dammit Jonas, see what you've done?" The Lynx walked up to his partner to see what she was moaning about.

"Haha, glad to see you're having a good time."

"You know this is a bloody stupid idea right. It's a trap, they're just getting you here to eliminate you like the completion you are." Jonas let out a long obvious sigh.

"You've been saying that ever since you got here."

That's because it's true. The hell I'm gonna help you when they gut you like a fish and steal your Next."

"If that happens they'll get you to." Jonas laughed as he tried to get Jessie worked up.

"Sh-shut up! I'm too smart to let that happen to me."

"Oh, so you're going to abandon me then hmm?" He raised an eyebrow to see what her answer would be. She was annoyed now, he knew her far too well. Being childhood friends they knew each other pretty well.

"Sure, after this goes tits up in your face so I can laugh and tell you that I told you so."

"Face it Jessie, you're in this with me till the bitter end." Jessie turned away from Jonas and pouted. She knew it was true too.

"And? What's you point?" Jonas put his hand on her shoulder and smiled.

"Have fun Jessie, I think we might have our next mission soon. Hope you like you new control room. Don't want moaning mid-fight now do I?" He walked on ahead leaving behind Jessie who hadn't stopped moaning as she passed out of earshot.

He made it, standing outside the double doors that lead to the conference room. He took a deep breath before grabbing the handle and turning it. The door opened to reveal two people. Seth was one, sat at the far end of the hall behind a desk while Takaru leaned against the wall to his right.

"Ahh Jonas you made it, please take a seat." Jonas walked to the desk and sat n the chair opposite Seth, he swivelled it around so that he could keep an eye on both Lynx. As always; even in the face of allies, Jonas was still calculating and strategic.

"So, why'd you call me here Seth, I was overseeing the last of the shipment of my stuff."

"Was that before or after you was daydreaming in the sunset." Takaru butted in.

"I… I wasn't daydreaming."Jonas was taken aback by this interruption, not because of the interruption itself but more by the fact they knew he wasn't actually working. Takaru chuckled as he pointed to one of the nine screens on the wall behind Seth.

"Heh. Cameras don't lie buddy." The camera showed the runway, the centre of the footage was the exact point where he was standing. It seemed that from the angle that the camera was pointing from the camera was situated on top of the huge freight elevator.

"Humph, spying on me huh?" Seth looked at Jonas.

"We weren't spying, we was seeing if you was busy, seeing if now a good time to hold this meeting." Takaru was still chuckling against the walls; he already knew what this meeting was about as he was paying no attention to Seth at all. Jonas gave Seth a quizzical look.

"Okay then. Just what is this meeting about them?" Seth leaned forwards onto the table and clasped his hands together.

"It's time to earn you keep. Takaru has a mission and you're going to be his wingman. I spread the word out to our top ten clients a week ago about you joining us and a couple of them are interested in what you can do. So we've been hired for a mission."

"Alright so what are the details?" Seth spun round on his chair and flicked a button on his remote control. All nine screens changed what they were showing to merge together to give a big mission briefing.

"Our client today is the League. They have a small infestation problem that they want us solving. An unknown group has infiltrated and taken over a Normal manufacturing plant in Southern Europe. Most of the outside forces are long range sniper and artillery types and have already foiled one attempt by the League to get the base back. However they only had Normals on the offensive. They all perished so now they need us. They have another team of Normals on standby to infiltrate. Apparently the League doesn't want us going inside the plant, we are only allowed to take out the outside forces so that the Normal force can move into to plant and take it back. Now there isn't an outpost there so the operators will stay here to give you your instructions… Any questions?" Takaru got up off the wall and trust his fist forward.

"None of them will stand up to me. Sniper types hah, they don't the meaning of the term sniping, just stand back Jonas and I'll show you how it's done kay." Jonas just nodded. Seth stood up.

"Alright you two leave the base and nine hundred hours tomorrow. Jonas you're dismissed. Takaru, one more thing before you go." Jonas got up and nodded; he walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.

"So what do you want?" Seth put his hand in his pockets and glared at Takaru.

"Keep an eye on Jonas, I want to see what he's truly capable of, give me a full status update on his skills when you get back okay. There's no point in keeping him if he can't pull his weight. I need to make sure I made the right choice in recruiting him."

"But aren't you the one that invited him here in the first place?"

"Sure, but I got to be clear that I have made the right choice, that battle outside the research facility may have been a fluke."

"Fair enough, I'll keep one eye on him and one eye on my enemies and I put bullets through their heads."

"See that you do Takaru. See that you do." Takaru left the briefing room closing the door behind him and leaving alone.

"Don't let me down Jonas; I don't know what I'd have to do if you're not what I'm hoping you are."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Kill Count.

Jonas sat in Silent Howl's cockpit. He had been sat there for about ten minutes; however he had been in-flight for two hours now. All missions usually began with a hot drop into a combat zone, unless the enemy wasn't expected to be there for a while. Unfortunately the enemy wasn't just at the combat zone but they had made themselves well at home.

The two dropships flew towards the manufacturing plant at full speed. The quicker they got there, the quicker they'd finish it and the quicker they'd get their payday.

"Jonas, half an hour until drop. Remember, get in, kill everything and get out." Jessie always liked to give Jonas one last briefing before a mission.

"I know, I know."

"Also, you're not allowed into the manufacturing plant. That'll be the really big building."

"Pfft, I would never have guessed."

"Course you wouldn't have, that's why I'm telling you." Jonas sighed. The cockpit was cramped with not much space to stretch his legs. Jonas couldn't help but feel a little cranky. He would be fine once the fighting starts. Jessie continued on with her personal briefing.

"Oh and just because you can't go in, doesn't mean that they can't come out." She said sarcastically.

"I know. How long until the drop?"

"Twenty eight minutes." Jonas sighed so heavily that he swore that he heard himself on Jessie's end.

"Give me an update when I got five minutes left to drop."

"Whatever you say, I'm going to go back to reading my Next parts catalogue." Jonas decided that it was time for a status check on his next. He was getting bored, anything could happen though, ambushes may be set up on the route there so Jonas always got in his Next early, just to be safe. The boredom that was creeping in was sure to end when the different voice spoke over the comms.

"Hey Jones, you sleeping yet?"

"Huh? What? No, of course not." The sudden chatter startled him.

"You sound startled. A good Lynx must always be fully alert, ready for everything. That's why I'm so awesome, I'm always awake. READY FOR EVERYTHING!" Jonas was worried about Takaru's eagerness. This was his first mission as a member of the gang of mercenaries. He couldn't help but think that they were a weird bunch.

It occurred to Jonas that once he activated his primal armour the area around him would become radiated. Which meant he would be stuck in his Next through the whole journey home. If he was being dropped into a combat zone he would need his all important shield. Jonas sighed again. He knew that this was no different than any other mission and he acted the same on all of them, just like this one. Needless to say, Jonas was badly in need of an in-flight movie. Through all of Jonas' brooding, Takaru thought that now would be a good time to interrupt.

"Alright Jones. You've never seen me in battle before have you? Thought not. Anyways listen up, I'm a sniper so be a good boy and stay far away from me, you'll only bring friends. Oh and if any of the peons we'll be fighting just happens to blow up in your face, that'll be me."

"Yeah. Well they won't even be able to reach where I'll be going."

"Oh yeah and where's that then?"

"The sky."

"Let's have a bet. I bet you one thousand credits that I'll get more kills than you."

"That's' enough to get a new gun. Alright then, deal. Heh, happy hunting Takira."

"You too Jones." Jonas smiled, happy to know he seemed to be getting along with the person who said that a new rifle would have been a nicer surprise than him joining. He'd have to win this bet if he wanted to make a name for himself in this group. As the newbie, all eyes were on him. Two very different combat styles, two ways of victory, two outcomes. Jones would be sure the outcome which favoured him would take place.

Jonas tapped on the command console of his Next to get a status check going. He checked the clock only to find himself surprised. There was only ten minutes to drop. He smacked his face to get rid of the happiness. It had no place on the battlefield, he only allowed stern readiness go with him into a conflict.

Jonas watched the screen intently as all the internal working of his Next were analysed for combat readiness. All were lighting up green indicating that he was ready for action.

"Jonas. You have five minutes to drop. You ready?"

"Thanks Jessie, yeah I'm ready."

"Good, hope you remembered you're packed lunch."

"Sure did." Jessie chuckled on the other end.

"Ok then, releasing safeties for bay door opening. I'm seeing green across the board. Three minutes to drop. Looks packed down there, plenty to kill. I've got a go signal from Takaru. He's ready too."

"Then let's do this." Jonas leant forward. He was eager to prove himself. More eager than he had been in years. Jonas tapped away at his command console. Ammunition was loaded in his weapon and his primal armour was activated. The whole bay in which his next resided started buzzing with a great deal of fluttering lights. These Kojima Particles had now irradiated the whole bay. Safeguards prevented it from getting to the rest of the Dropship but to be in the bay now was suicide.

The light indicating Silent Howl's single eye shone a dark blue. He was ready.

"Right bay doors are opening. Dropping you in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1." The couplings holding Silent Howl inside the dropship detatched sending a shudder throughout the Next. The plummet began. Jonas saw it all through his screen. The dropship getting smaller and smaller, the dots on the ground getting bigger and bigger. Jessie's voice suddenly softened dramatically.

"And one last thing Jonas, don't die on me out there."

'Don't die?' Jessie has never said anything that way before; usually she just gave sarcastic comments and a 'kick some ass' remark. But this was odd for her; the softness of her tone worried him.

Jonas shook his head as the dots on the ground were easy to make up now. He was one thousand foot high and falling fast. He turned and saw the Next Lockheart which Takaru piloted falling not too far away. Lockheart turned its bulk straight at Jonas. A loud yell came over the comms.

"Yaahoo! Time to get this show on the road!" Lockheart's Overboosters on the back opened up and flared aggressively blasting itself straight past Jonas. Jonas thought about how Takaru must be trying to get at a long range, and then it occurred to him about the bet and thought how he needs to get some kills going. Jonas made Silent Howl boost downwards to slow his decent. The Next could take a heavy landing but he didn't want to push his luck. The enemies on the ground were alerted to Jonas' presence now. The incoming fire was a good enough indication of that. Most of the shots however were going wide because of the distance. There was two hundred foot left before the landing and Jonas made good use of the space by returning fire with his rifle. He missed slightly but the return fire was just meant to keep them on their toes. A massive thud came from the Silent Howl's feet as it finally came to a halt on the ground. All the enemies had their eyes on him now. This was it…

Showtime.

Jonas boosted to the left quickly analysing his enemies as he went. They were bipedal Normals holding rifles or machine guns in one hand and a short laser blade was attached to the wrist of the other. These were specialised for mid range combat in an open field, there was plenty of space here. Whilst moving to his left, Jonas brought his missile launcher up, firing a quick salvo of missiles bringing two enemies down. The retaliation came quick and fierce. More than ten enemies wanted Jonas dead. Sure Jonas could take a good number of hits but the combined fire of over ten Normals would rip him to shreds.

Jonas took to the air to get a better angle on his opponents, flying right over them. Seeing his opportunity, he fired his rifle shattering the head of one Normal and disintegrating the left leg of another. There was nothing left of the third kill, it simply blew up. Landing behind them he saw a quad-legged Next in the distance. A quick succession of muzzle flashes emitted from the distant figure. Three more enemies behind Jonas were destroyed. The figure turned and moved off to find a new vantage point. The last five or so Normals behind Jonas turned around and started firing. The Lynx boosted to the right, skimming along the terrain. A building nearby offered good cover so Jonas boosted behind it. The fire from the Normal's machine guns riddled the building with a couple hundred holes. The building was big enough to hide Silent Howl and its bulk. Problem was it was being reduced to rubble fast. Jonas had about four seconds before he'd be exposed so he took off vertically, challenging the last few opponents of the squad. Their guns followed Silent Howl causing its primal armour to shine and shimmer with every hit. Jonas quickly fired both his rifle and missile launcher at the same time. The rifle shots made their mark and so did the missiles, with one lone enemy remaining, Jonas landed in front of it and gracefully separated it's bottom and upper halves with his laser blade.

"Takaru, I've got 12 kills so far, what about you?"

"12 kills? Is that it? I'm on 14… 15… Keep up now." Jonas swore to himself and activated his Overbooster draining both his energy reserves and Primal Armour in search of more foes, like a predator whose prey wasn't satisfying enough.

The big manufacturing plant was Jonas' next designation. Sure he couldn't go in but enemies were sure to be piling out by now. He'd kill them all. After five brief seconds, he made it. For sure, the enemies were swarming the front, the massive freight door closing behind them. Jonas stopped himself in his tracks and boosted to the right, hiding at the corner of the building. A few of the enemies had noticed him and were walking his way, the rest followed like sheep. Jonas took a deep breath. Around twenty enemies stood between him and winning this bet. He boosted backwards further behind the building and stopped for a second to let his energy recharge.

Jonas opened up his Overboosters again and let them roar. He shot forward, straight past the corner and in front of the throng of foes. They hadn't quite prepared themselves for the speed in which he had showed himself. He pointed his rifle to his right and fired away. In his strafing run he killed at least five enemies and crippled a couple more. Jonas saw a building up ahead which provided more cover. He shut off his Overbooster and spun around on the spot, travelling backwards now facing the enemies in which he had just blitzed, in quick succession to his spin he quick-boosted to his left and behind the building. Wasting no time he came straight out the other side and fired both his missile launcher and rifle. Around eight enemies fell in the assault. Jonas headed straight for them and took off. They shot at him, lighting up his Primal Armour. The last five remaining enemies were packed in tight. One swift strike would finish them off.

Jonas thought he'd try something risky, not without analysing all the risks first, he found the reward to be worth it. He disengaged his boosters and fell to the ground smack bang in the middle of the remaining enemies. Silent Howl's laser blade extending out of the hilt. Only igniting the booster on his shoulder that helped him turn at quick speeds he spun on the spot. This graceful spin with the blade extended transformed the Silent Howl into deadly circular saw taking out four of the last foes. The last one was just out of reach. Timing was crucial; this manoeuvre had almost depleted his Primal Armour leaving him naked. Jonas alternated his shoulder booster to stop his spin and left himself facing the last enemy that was just out of melee range. It was backing off quickly, but Jonas was going to win. He boosted straight at the enemy bringing his rifle up smashing the muzzle into the Normal;. The momentum had caused the Silent Howl to drag the Normal with him. Jonas fired a burst of rounds whilst still dragging the Normal along completely disintegrating the upper half of the last enemy in this sector.

Jonas stopped for a moment. All the foes were shooting him while he pulled his little graceful stunt and it had depleted his shielding, he decided to let it recharge before moving on. He took a deep breath but was interrupted half way through by Takaru.

"30 kills here, what about you?" Jonas did the math; he had killed the entire squadron on his own which had twenty enemies in it. Plus the 12 from earlier had brought him up to two kills ahead. Jonas grinned.

"I've got 32 here, heh."

"Wait… what, you're beating me? Dammit. The enemies are starting to fall back now, just a case of picking off the stragglers. I have the League on the comms. I'm telling them to send in their defence force now." There were still a few more enemies out there, no doubt that Takaru had blitzed off in search of them, with two kills separating them, and it was anyone's game. Jonas took to the sky to see where they were. He looked around checking his radar and the area until… until he found some. A small squad of four Normals were retreating out of the complex and they were almost out. He saw Lockheart in the distance boosting towards them. Jonas swore to himself, Takaru was a sniper; he could take them out from his current location if he wanted. Jonas flared up his Overboosters once again; draining his reserves and recklessly blasting himself in the direction of last cornered foes. He brought up his missile launcher, having a better range than his rifle and fired not one, not two but three salvos of missiles. He had to be one that kills them and he would make sure that wasn't even a scrap of metal left. Jonas checked on Takaru, he had stopped and was doing what looked like aiming with his huge back mounted sniper cannon. Jonas didn't stop going. He was testing the limits of his Primal Armour. The bar on his screen showed red meaning the Kojima Particles had dispersed and his Next would have to gather them back into a formidable shield again. Takaru fired and blew up one of the four. His missile barrage was half way there. Takaru needed one more kill to be on equal terms. But if Jonas could kill two, he'd win the bet and one thousand credits. Time slowed down for Jonas, seconds felt like agonising minutes. His missiles were quick and almost there. But the round from the sniper cannon would travel faster. Luckily the sniper cannon could only kill one at a time; his barrage could take them all out at once.

Takaru fired his sniper cannon. The bullet travelled faster than he could comprehend. It would make it before his missiles would. Jonas bit his lip hard. Would luck favour Takaru today? The round hit the Normal Square in the back. However the impact of the round sent the Normal, now in smaller chucks towards the one in front of it. The impact of the Normal was hard causing sharp edges to impale the one in front. Jonas was close enough now to make out what was going on, horror consumed his face. The impaled Normal fell forward and hit the ground hard sparking like a firework before blowing up and disintegrating both the Normal hit by the sniper cannon round and itself. A second later the missile barrage rained down and blanketed the area utterly destroying the last Normal and any remains.

Both Jonas and Takaru had killed thirty three Normals each. It was a draw.

"Well Jonas, seems like it was a draw. And here's me thinking I had you beat. Not bad at all I suppose." There was a great deal of resignation in his voice and Jonas noticed it. His heart was actually racing. Jessie couldn't help but butt in.

"Yep Jonas, that was the last of them. Mission Accomplished. I've ordered the dropships to your position to pick you and bring you home." Jonas sighed and leant back, he couldn't have hoped for a better mission. The resignation was gone from Takaru's voice.

"Jonas, the defence squadron from the League are on their way. We have no reason to stick around here."

"But if there's any leftovers in the manufacturing plant?"

"Not our problem, we had orders to not step in there remember. It the defence force's problem now."

"Alright then. Truth is, I'm tired."

"Oh com' on Jonas, I could go on for another hour. BRING IT." Jonas couldn't help but laugh. He was indeed tired though. The mental strain on piloting a Next had taken its toll and he was done for today. In the distance Jonas heard the roar of jet engines.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Cradle Chat

Jonas was fast asleep in the cockpit of the Silent Howl. Apart from a few marks and grazes, he had made it out relatively undamaged. The battle turned out better than he thought it could have done, but that was because they had the element of surprise. Jonas fell asleep not long after he took off; the strain had tired him out.

Every Lynx is a Lynx because of one thing. Their Allegorical Manipulation System capability. Anyone can pilot a Next, but without an AMS capability, all they would be able to do it basic movements. The premise behind someone with AMS capability is that they have a certain degree of psychic ability. Lynx can apply their psychic ability to their Next through the system, allowing the use of very difficult manoeuvres and feats of strength other people could only dream about. However, there is the downside that using this psychic ability puts a great strain on the mind of the Lynx. Everyone's degree of ability is different causing a Lynx's skill in a Next to be defined by the AMS capability. Jonas had put his psychic ability to good use during the previous battle and it had taken its toll on him.

Jonas was about half an hour from his new home, he would be walking about the dropship if it wasn't for the small fact that the bay was greatly irradiated by his Primal Armour. Jonas wouldn't last a minute in Kojima radiation this dense. A familiar voice over the comms had stirred him.

"Jonas? Jessie here. Sorry to wake you but I've passed on the mission report to Seth, he wants to see you and Takaru for a debriefing when you touch down." Jonas felt cranky. He just wanted to sleep, get off the dropship, then sleep some more. Jonas grunted to Jessie indicating he heard what she said. He closed his eyes in an attempt to nod back off but Takaru saw to it that he wouldn't be drifting off any time soon.

"Hey Jones. I've got a question. Do you know who we were fighting earlier? I've never seen that group before." Jonas gave up, he rubbed his eyes and leant forward, everything was blurred so he rubbed harder. He let off a big yawn not noticing the comm line to Takaru was still open.

"I don't know, it was probably just a resistance movement or another merc group that got hired to take the facility."

"Anyways, you get the memo. We got to see Seth for a debriefing when we touchdown, standard stuff."

"Yeah I know, Jessie told me."

"Good good. By the way, I got word from the defence force taking over from us. They had some minor resistance inside the plant but other than that, it was a piece of cake for them." Jonas yawned again, which caused Takaru some irritation.

"Pffft, only because we cleared the way first."

"Maybe so, but they get left with cleaning duty." Jonas chuckled, there was a lot of scrap metal left behind at the complex and they wouldn't be the ones to clear it up." Jonas wanted more sleep so he popped the question.

"When we touching down?"

"In about 30 minutes."

"Right then, I'm going back to sleep." Without giving Takaru a chance to send his reply, Jonas shut off the comms and leant back against the piloting chair. Even though it wasn't comfortable for sleeping in, it was all he had and he made good use of it.

Jonas was suddenly stirred by the fact that he was almost thrown out of his piloting chair. He shot up straight, eyes wide open. He calmed down once he found out he had landed at the base. Jonas switched on the screen so that he could see where he was going. The bay was a sickly green caused by the Kojima Particles that fluttered around like twinkling lights. The dropship had stopped and the bay doors opened a moment later flooding the dropship with natural sunlight causing Jonas to squint. People in protective clothing and huge hoses surrounded the dropship bay door, ready to get rid of the contamination inside the dropship and on Silent Howl. The hoses erupted with a white foaming substance that disintegrated instantly on contact with the particles, decontaminating the area and Silent Howl in the process, leaving behind no trace of anything.

The crew on the ground looked like insects to Jonas who saw whatever Silent Howl's eye saw. These small insects ushered him forwards towards the large freight elevator. Jonas could hear the sound of jet engines as Takaru's dropship landed not too far behind him, Jonas thought about how he must have been cleared for landing first. Upon walking Silent Howl onto the freight elevator, it began to descend into the belly of the beast he now called his home. He got deeper and deeper until he hit the bottom. The docking bay was busy, people scurried around going about their daily work. People cleared the way as Silent Howl moved off the elevator and into its designated Next docking bay. The freight elevator began to ascend shortly afterward.

Jonas docked Silent Howl and disembarked, immediately stretching his legs and arms and letting off a long groan before taking off his helmet. He was fully awake now; the nap was exactly what he needed. He walked in the direction of his room to splash some water on his face, the nap had made him look like crap and he needed freshening up.

He made it to his room with nothing out of the ordinary happening. He quickly splashed some water before checking himself out in the mirror in front of him. He looked fine, better than how he thought he felt, which right now was fully awake and absolutely fine. Jonas grabbed the towel and dried his face. He quickly got changed into his ordinary clothes and headed back out. His next destination was the briefing room. It was a few minutes trip, Jonas expected nothing special to happen but these thoughts were shattered when he saw Jessie walking towards him after turning a corner. Jessie gave him a slight smile, showing off her adorably cute features even if she didn't intend to, this was short lived though as she walked right past him. Jonas couldn't let this opportunity slip so he turned around after her and asked the question that had bothered him last mission.

"Jessie uhh… What was with the whole 'don't die on me' thing back during the mission? That's not like you at all; your voice was a lot quieter than it had been in ages?" Jessie stopped, completely taken aback by the sudden question. Her neck length, chestnut hair swayed as she quickly spun around, shock emanating on her face. Jonas knew her better than anyone; the change in tempo just wasn't her.

"Well I uhh… You know… It was your first mission with these guys… It was an important one… So I thought I'd give you some extra encouragement… It worked though didn't it?" Jessie blushed slightly. She tried to hide it but Jonas didn't notice how flustered she was.

"Okay, thanks Jessie. Listen, with the money from this mission I wanna order some new parts. Just giving you a heads up, gonna get a new gun and hopefully a new generator." Jessie composed herself completely reverting to her ordinary self.  
"Yeah! After that, no-one can stop you."

"Yeah. Anyway, I'll catch you later." Jonas turned around and continued to his destination. Jessie did the same, turning around and walking on. However, a couple of steps later she turned to watch Jonas walking and let off a small sigh, before continuing on herself.

It took Jonas a few minutes to get to the briefing room, he opened the doors to find not only Seth there but Takaru is well, dressed in his normal clothing and casually leaning against the wall. He couldn't help but think as to how Takaru had made it before him. Seth beckoned him in.

"Hey Jonas, come in. I've got the report on the mission, nice work by both of you." Jonas sat down on the chair opposite Seth, who continued on.

"The mission payment has been received and deposited into your accounts, not before we deducted the money for base maintenance of course." Jonas nodded, he had heard all this before. Takaru followed up.

"That was some nice work out there; I didn't expect you to be half as good as you were. I… was impressed and I don't say that often." Seth's astounded face towards Takaru was a testament to that, Takaru certainly didn't compliment people that much. Jonas tried to come up with some sort of witty remark against that but figured that now wasn't the time. But he did ask a question.

"So what now then?" Seth was quick to answer.

"Exactly what you did at your old base, Buy parts and ammo, keep on the lookout for missions and the like. However, I want you to refrain from accepting any missions for the time being." Jonas was surprised to hear this, no-one had ever kept him from accepting missions before.

"Really? How come?"

"Simple answer is that we want you to have a mission with Ellysia as well. We need you to be free when that time comes, not gallivanting around somewhere. She's keeping a lookout for missions that allow wingmen. You're to be her next wingman regardless of what choices she gets."

"So when's the next mission then."

"No idea, could be in a few days or a few weeks." Seth stood up.

"Debriefing's over guys, go do something." Jonas got up and walked out, not noticing that Takaru didn't move. When the door shut behind Jonas, Seth placed his hands on the table.

"How was he Takaru? Tell me everything."

"He was good, had some good techniques. Gets pooped easily though. He was out like a light on the way back."

"So his endurance is somewhere around mine then."

"If you want my opinion and I know you do. We should keep him."

"That's all I wanted to hear and I agree."

Jonas walked back to his bedroom. He flopped himself onto his bed and grabbed the Next parts catalogue off of his bedside table, flipping it straight to the weapons pages. His eyes scanned the different and exotic weapons that plastered the pages, trying to find something he'd like. He found guns that were to slow and some that cost too much. He was finding it hard trying to find a new gun that he liked. The one he had at the moment did good damage but he needed something faster without sacrificing firepower. It took half an hour to decide but he found one he liked. It was expensive but Jonas figured that the price was worth it. He'd have to put a hold on his power generator though, as he didn't have enough. He jumped out of his bed, noticing that he hadn't drunk anything since the last mission; he headed for the little room above the hanger. A moment was all it took to get there, but he was surprised to find Takaru and Ellysia there too. Both of them were watching the television stuck to the wall.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Takaru quickly turned to Jonas and scowled at him.

"Oi! Jones, seriously, shh." Ellysia didn't move an inch. It was almost as if she had blocked out everything around her but Jonas did as he was told. He grabbed a chair and sat down. He took a look at what was so interesting. On the screen two people were sitting on armchairs talking to each other, surrounded by windows that looked out to the endless skies. It occurred to Jonas that this must be broadcasted from a Cradle; the hope for mankind. The words 'League T.V' was watermarked on the bottom right of the program. Jonas listened in to the two guys on the television. The one on the left seemed to be in the middle of something.

"It seems Hank, that we have a new Lynx in the Collared rank 1 spot."

"There sure is Roy. He seems to be a prodigy from Omer Science, their trump card if you want to call him that. Why don't you go and tell everyone his name."

"Sure thing, his name is Otsdarva. He used to be from Rayleonard but when they were taken out he moved to Omer. He's been rising through the ranks at an astounding pace, not losing any matches at all."

"Phew, sounds like he's quite the Lynx then."

"Yep, he pilots the Next Stasis with expert skill. He's being heralded as a superb tactician."

"Some even say he's better than the former Berlioz."

"The rank 1 Original from Rayleonard? He died at the greatest battle of the last Lynx war 5 years ago didn't he?"

"Yeah, at the battle in the abandoned city."

"Yeah that's it. Who took part in that battle anyway? I heard that loads of Lynx took part and died in that fight."

"Hmm, good question, that battle was on all the news stations back then. Well Berlioz was in it, as well as the 3 elite squad members of his team. They were Unseel, Zanni and P. Dam. Then on the other side were Mido Auriel, Leonhardt and that Lynx from Anatolia. The battle started with only Leonhardt who piloted the Noblesse Oblige and Mido Auriel who piloted Null. But Anatolia's Lynx joined in later and turned the tide. Although Null died, he and Leonhardt killed all of Berlioz and his squad."

"So this Lynx from Anatolia was quite something huh. What was his name?"

"That's just it, no-one knew it except for the people he knew personally."

"Just what made him special then?"

"He took out the Reyleonard corporation and the Bernard and Felix Foundation by destroying their headquarters all on his own."

"Wow! Where is he now?"

"No-one knows, he dropped off the map after the war. Rumour has it he stopped being a Lynx to live a life of peace with his operator."

"Fancy life."

"Indeed it is. Anyways, catch me and Roy next time on Cradle Chat where we will be talking about the Collared ranking and hopefully getting a chat with Otsdarva on his new number 1 ranking."

"And remember. Up here in the Cradles. We, the League will pave the way for the future. Till next time watchers, goodnight." Takaru shot up out of his chair almost knocking Jonas of his. It was obvious he was annoyed.

"Pffft, pave the way for the future. League propaganda if you ask me." Ellysia glanced at Takaru with disagreement.

"Hey. My family is up there in those Cradles. I'm sure they're doing whatever they can to help us down here."

"You saw those two guys, sitting in those cushy armchairs free from any problems that we have. I doubt they'd be in a rush to do anything for us." Takaru walked out of the room before Ellysia had a chance to respond. Jonas casually let him past before turning his eyes to Ellysia as her eyes met his. Jonas thought it would be good to break the tension that had brewed up.

"So, he's not a fan of the League then?" Ellysia let off a heavy sigh when she heard the question.

"No, he isn't. He's a true merc, only working for who has the biggest pockets. Anyways, I heard about your first mission with him. You certainly got rid of any doubts Seth had."

"Hah, that's awesome." Jonas was going to continue but Ellysia cut him off.

"But I'm going to need a bit more convincing. I need to see your abilities personally. You see, I came up with the idea of taking you on the next mission with myself. Seth approved it so get some rest, I don't know when a mission will come up but I'll need you on top form." Ellysia walked out of the room.

It suddenly pinged to Jonas that he'd originally come here for a hot drink. He fetched a mug and poured some steaming hot, black coffee into it before leaving the room himself.

"Right, time to get the rifle ordered." He walked off in the direction of Jessie's room.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Vanguard

Jonas was edgy sitting in the cockpit of Silent Howl. He was eyeing up his new 'MARVE' rifle with glee. This had been a really good find; the gun was known for its notoriety. It fired faster without sacrificing killing power, Jonas liked this.

His new rifle was all it took to distract from the fact that Omer Science engineers were busy strapping a huge booster to his back. It was almost the size of Silent Howl. The Vangaurd Overbooster was a new invention by Omer Science that allowed Nexts to get to battle zones with insane speed. They used up fuel quickly though and were only good for about five minutes of flight time which, at that point would break apart and fall off the back, leaving the Next with only it's momentum to glide them into action. It was however highly experimental, but Jonas was getting highly compensated for this. He didn't have a choice in the matter; Ellysia picked this mission so he had to tag along. It was only four days ago that she said for Jonas to be ready at any notice. The mission had popped up a few hours after that.

There were two launch pads which were two miles apart. Ellysia was at 'Launch Pad Alpha' and Jonas was at 'Launch pad Omega'. There was something else bothering Jonas though. There was another aspect to this mission. Two Arms Forts. Omer Science had decided for this to be the perfect time to test their new toys out as going to the Arms Forts in dropships would be suicide, they'd be shot down with ease by the intense firepower the Forts carried. Ellysia and Jonas would meet up half way to the objective and then proceed along an already devised course to the Forts.

"Aww man, Jessie this is insane. They're strapping to my back a giant Booster. Untested in the field, extremely volatile and unstable, it could blow up at any second. Man I am so screwed." Jonas sighed heavily.

"Ellysia's getting one to remember." Her voice being clear and concise without any humour.

"Yeah, your point being? I'm cursed, I know it. My oversized jetpack will be the one to go up in flames. Ellysia's will be fine." Usually Jonas wasn't this whiny, but the circumstances were difficult. He actually hadn't fought any Arms Forts before. He usually always took the smaller jobs to keep the risk to a minimum because back then, over a month ago. He had a colony to feed so he had to come back from the mission alive and with the money. That and having a highly experimental Vanguard Overbooster placed on his back scared him a lot. The thought of his giant back mounted rocket blowing up at anytime was difficult for him to fathom. Sure Jonas realized that life wasn't without risk but having two thrown at him which could result in his death wasn't appealing to him even the slightest.

"Don't worry, Jonas you'll be fine. I promise you, you'll come back to us alive." Jessie placed all of her support into that last statement because she meant ever word of it. Jonas wouldn't die here, she could feel it.

"Yeah, your right. Thanks Jessie. You've always been a great friend to me." Jonas gave a smile which no-one would ever know about.

Friend.

For some reason… That one word burned inside Jessie. She didn't understand why and now wasn't the time to search deep down inside herself and find out. She had to do her job.

Jonas sat there while the engineers worked below him. Doing checks and making sure everything was fine. Jonas opened the comms line to Ellysia.

"How you doing Ellysia?" Jonas was, at this point, killing time.

"To be honest, I'm a bit excited. I hardly ever get the Arms Forts jobs and the fact that we're testing out equipment that's going to revolutionise the way we enter battles is really cool." This outburst from Ellysia surprised Jonas. She was usually in a bad mood and never really had anything to say to him. But she was surprisingly upbeat at this point, she sounded cheerful, almost giddy.

"You sound cheerful. We're fighting the Bernard and Felix foundation right?"

"Yeah, but the G.A seemed to have loaned them some Giga Bases. They're all chummy like that."

"So B.F.F ground troops with G.A Arms Forts then."

"Yeah. Should be a piece of cake for me. Oh wait, hold on. I'm getting a call from Alpha camp control." After that the comms went dead so Jonas sat there. It occurred to him that he seemed to be working for Omer a lot lately. Jessie wasn't happy to hear that he was going to be working for them again after the fiasco at the research centre. Jonas got a call over the comms.

"This is Launch Pad Omega. The preparations are complete. The Vanguard Overbooster has been put into place and secured. Where seeing green on all its systems. We'll be taking extensive data collecting during the flight. The flight path has been uploaded to your computer. Make sure you follow it." The voice sounded very emotionless and professional.

"Anything else?"

"Yes. The Giga Bases will likely fire at you with their long range artillery cannons. Even with your Primal Armour, the cannons will decimate you. Be sure to avoid their fire. When you get to them, leave no survivors."

"How long until launch?"

"5 more minutes." Jonas let a huge gulp emanate over the comms.

"Al… Alright."

"We're sending you a map of the area with the location of the rendezvous point with Embrace." Flashing lights showed on Jonas' screen, the data was being uploaded to Silent Howl. A progress bar raced along the screen, once it reached the end it disappeared, being replaced with a birds-eye view map of the area. Two arrows raced along the map both converging on one point. Then one bigger arrow marched on to the symbols indicating the Arms Forts.

Ellysia spoke over an open channel to both Jonas and the Omer Science tower.

"This is Embrace. Ready for launch… Just say the word." Jonas let out one final sigh.

"This is Silent Howl. I'm ready too." There was a silence that lasted a lifetime. Then finally, Omega Tower spoke.

"Ok… Silent Howl. You are ready for launch. Boost along the runway at 400 kilometres a second, we'll activate the vanguard booster from here. Begin Phase 1 of the mission." Jonas boosted Silent Howl forward at the speed asked of him, his Next could go much faster than this but what they said went.

"Roger that." The lines dotted along the runway were ticking down. One by one they disappeared behind him until…

There were no more…

Jonas took off; he could feel a deep rumble behind him.

"Activating Omega Vanguard Overbooster… Now." A huge blast emanated from behind Silent Howl, dragging Jonas back into his seat. His chest felt like it was being crushed. The speedometer on the screen raced higher and higher. He was flying at quadruple his maximum boosting speed, which was 750 kilometres an hour. The momentum evened out allowing Jonas to sit forward and actually pilot his Next. Not that he could do much travelling at super-sonic speed. Jonas heard a quiet Jessie over the comms.

"Jonas… Are you ok? Your heart rate just doubled." Over the roars of the giant booster on his back, Jonas had a difficult time hearing her.

"I'm fine, really. Just the shock of the vanguard booster going off." Jonas shouted louder than he actually had to over the sound of the roaring jet engine behind him.  
"Ok then. Don't push yourself." Jessie sounded worried about him. Considering the circumstances, he wasn't surprised.

"Don't worry, I'll try not to. Dying isn't on list of things to do today." There was a small silence. This was quickly broken by a scream of pure excitement.

"Oh my God… What a rush! This is so much fun!" Jonas heard this clearly, probably because it was twice as loud as Jessie speaking before her.

"You kidding me, Ellysia?!" Jonas was well and truly shocked. Was this Ellysia's true colours? He'd never heard her like this before. It was almost creepy.

"Oh hell no! Meet you up ahead." Jonas looked at the map Omer Science sent him. It was keeping track of how far he travelled. He couldn't fathom how far he flown in two minutes. He was already two thirds of the way to the rendezvous point.  
He could see it up ahead. The point where he'd meet up with Ellysia. The terrain was completely flat below and ahead of him offering no cover for the alleged fire that the Giga Bases would throw at him. He would have to keep watch straight ahead for any sign of incoming fire. He made Silent Howl look to his right. There she was, travelling not so far away moving closer to him, he had made it to the rendezvous point, now they would travel side by side to the final objective. The Omega tower gave an announcement to him.

"Rendezvous point reached. No problems so far, begin Phase 2 of the mission." Jonas simply nodded at his screen.

He was starting to warm to the situation. It isn't often that you get to travel at super-sonic speeds. With the adrenaline pumping he started to feel the rush. A grin stretched across his face, he was actually starting to enjoy himself.

"Mwahaha. This is so awesome." He'd cried out over the comms to Ellysia.

"See, it is isn't it. Told you so. Careful though, we'll be reaching the combat zone soon."

"I know, I know." Jonas was caught in the moment however this was shattered when two huge balls of fiery light shone in the distance. They were getting bigger at an astonishing rate. Ellysia shouted at Jonas over the comms.

"Incoming Arms Fort ordinance! Evade for God's sake! Evade!" Jonas said nothing but brought himself back to reality as fast as he could. This wasn't a game, it was real life combat. Any sense of euphoria he had disappeared quickly and was replaced by a determination and an analytical concentration.

Jonas quick boosted to his left, surprised to find he still had some degree of manoeuvrability when quick boosting. He quick boosted again to the left to add more distance between him and the incoming fiery balls of death. The ordinance passed harmlessly between Ellysia and Jonas. They had evaded the first blast. But now the attacks would get more frequent and more intense as they were now known to the two Giga Bases that sat waiting for them. Five seconds passed since the shot had travelled past him.

Both Arms Forts fired this time, sending four artillery blasts at them, it seems that the two Giga bases were co-ordinating their attacks as they were both aiming for different targets. Jonas decided to get higher as height always meant advantage. He boosted upwards, allowing the ordinance to travel beneath himself. Ellysia had quick boosted to her right to evade her incoming blast. Another five seconds past.

Jonas heard it, the initial firing of the cannons up ahead. He was getting close. Four minutes had passed since he had taken off. Once again another four huge balls of flame headed towards them. Two were coming towards Jonas, the other two for Ellysia. The time between the initial firing and the blasts reaching him were getting shorter. He quick boosted to his right to evade them again, however one of the blasts just grazed him, slicing off a portion of his assault armour. The reading indicating its strength decreased sharply to half. Jessie almost screamed down the comms.

"Jonas, watch it! That one almost hit you! You got to be more careful." Jonas was getting frustrated, not because of Jessie, she was just looking out for him, but of the constant attacks against him. Nevertheless, he snapped back at her in anger.

"I know! I know! Quit bothering me." Another volley fired, the initial blast was loud now. He had to be almost on top of them. He dodged the barrage easily this time by quick boosting to his right twice. Jonas could see them in the not so far off distance; the Giga Bases. To Jonas they looked like two tankers with tank tracks. They were joined in the middle by a large platform with the massive artillery cannon on top of it. They had to be five times the size of Silent Howl. What worried Jonas was that, aside from the artillery cannon, its two decks were bristling with weaponry. Anti-aircraft guns, missile launchers and a couple of smaller artillery guns. Another ten seconds would put him directly above the Bases. He got a call from the Omega launch pad.

"Destination reached no damage to the Vanguard unit. Good luck. Purging in 3, 2, and 1, now."

With that said, the huge booster strapped to Silent Howl's back broke off and began to disintegrate into numerous smaller parts behind him. All that was left sending Silent Howl forwards was its momentum. Jonas gulped. He had made it this far with no big problems. All that was sitting between him and a successful mission was two Arms Forts. Even with Ellysia, this wasn't going to be easy. He would have to put all of his faith in his instincts and skills as a Lynx to make it though in one piece.

"This is Jonas. I'm engaging the Arms Forts."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Giga Base

Jonas was gliding in from the Giga base's right flank, a mixed look of determination and anxiety was drawn all over his face. The two Forts were trundling forwards in a single file formation with support units around them on the ground. He was to attack the Giga Base on the rear of the formation. Ellysia had the one that was taking point.

"Jonas, don't worry about the support. Focus on the Giga Base. The Ground support will likely retreat once the Forts are destroyed." Ellysia had done this before so it was natural that she knew what she was doing. Her voice was calm, cool and slightly monotonous.

"Roger that." Jonas switched off his auto lock-on system. It was going haywire due to the fact that there were so many individual targets on the Fort. Every weapon it had was a lockable target and Jonas didn't want to be bothered by a sporadic Fire Control System. Jonas would have to fire at his targets manually which was hard during high speed combat, but his target was so big, he couldn't miss.

Jonas dropped to the ground and brought his missile launcher up. Even with a full complement of missiles, he could see himself running out of ammo in this battle. He strafed around the bottom of the Arms Fort completely ignoring the Normals that were there for support. They didn't matter much, Bernard and Felix Foundation Normals were specialised in long range combat, and up close they weren't very dangerous. But that didn't mean they couldn't be a hindrance. Instinctively they fired at Silent Howl with their long range sniper rifles, missing him with room to spare. Jonas didn't even realize they were firing at him. He was eyeing up the Arms Fort for a weakness while skimming around its bottom. He noticed that the huge artillery cannon on the middle intersection was still revolving, trying to get a lock on him, it was then he realized where its weak spot was.

Jonas stopped for a moment before taking off, attracting the attention of all 8 anti-air guns on the fort. They peppered his Primal Armour with bullets, weakening it a little. These guns were obviously meant to destroy smaller flying units and not a Next. The damage they did wouldn't be enough to take down Silent Howls Primal Armour without a minute of combined fire. He fired his missile launcher in a wide spread, raining ordinance on the Giga Base. Small explosions lighting the Arms Fort as the missiles hit their mark. Scorch marks left in their wake.

"Dammit! That armours thick." Jonas tensed up, instantly looking in Ellysia's direction to see if she was fairing any better. It was safe to say she was. Small fires were spewing forth from hull breaches along the Arms Fort's side and several of the Fort's turrets and guns were blown to bits. Jonas needed to focus on his own target. He kept dodging the smaller artillery cannons of the fort and allowed his Primal Armour to soak up the smaller anti-air gun's bullets. He tapped some buttons on the console in front of him selecting the schematic for his missile launcher. From here he found the fire mode for the missile launcher, which was currently set to 'wide spread'. A couple of taps on his monitor changed it to 'focused'. He closed down the schematic bringing up the overall status of his Next. All the readouts showed all green. That was until one of the smaller artillery cannons round punched his Primal Armour shearing off a quarter of its strength, bringing the fortitude of his shield down to half. Jonas swore under his breath and quick boosted himself back to the ground, meeting the support squadron. Jonas was getting agitated, the enemy was everywhere and they were all after his blood. They aimed at him but not before Silent Howl blew the heads off 3 of them leaving only a couple left. He quick boosted to his right bringing himself around to the rear of the Arms Fort. He got a good view of the huge artillery cannon that was grieving him during the flight in. He manually aimed his launcher at the base of the cannon, where the cannon was attached to the frame of the Giga Base and fired. As he had set it, the missiles fired out more clustered together than before impacting the base of the turret. The separate small explosions of the individual missiles merged together to create a firestorm. The artillery cannon sparked and stopped revolving proving that his attack was effective. If he could cause a chain reaction, the whole Fort would go up. Jonas decided there and then that the Arms Forts' greatest weapon would be its biggest weakness. The irony sank in leaving an evil smirk stretched across his face.

However the smaller weapons facing the rear of the Arms Fort got a lock on him and once again he was dodging the attacks, skimming around the base. Jonas didn't let up. Every time his missile launcher was reloaded, he fired it directly ahead of him. Some of the support Normals got stuck in between Silent Howl and the Giga Base meaning the missile got them also. Scorch marks and hull breaches were etched along the side of the Giga Base meaning that his focused missile fire was effective.

It was then that a gigantic explosion rocked the area. Jonas instinctively realized what it was and he looked in the direction he believed it came from. The other Giga Base was destroyed. Huge clouds of smoke rose up from the gigantic corpse of an Arms Fort. Sparks and large bits of shrapnel flew in all directions. Jonas heard Ellysia over the comms. He was half expecting her to remark on the fact that he hadn't blown up his Arms Fort yet, that he was being too slow. But she didn't.

"Jonas, Ellysia here. In case you didn't notice the huge explosion. My Giga Base is down. I'm gonna clear up my support units and then disengage." There was a small pause before she continued on; like she was debating within herself on whether she should say what she was thinking. "Doesn't seem like you're doing too bad, keep it up." This compliment caught Jonas off guard, not enough to cause him to lose focus but enough to distract his thoughts slightly. In the end though, the comment only gave Jonas a stronger resolve.

Since he had fired a missile salvo at the artillery cannon, he had done a full circle of the Arms Fort and had once again aligned himself with the huge turret hoping to land the fatal blow. The attacks of the other parts of the Arms Fort had probably weakened its internal structure and systems. Another blow on the weakest point should begin the chain reaction he was hoping for. He fired another missile salvo reducing him to a fraction of what ammo he started with. The blast was intense, shrapnel danced in the sky as they all flew in their respective directions. Jonas frowned with disappointment, as the armour had kept out the majority of the barrage. The last few support Normals were making their way to the rear anticipating his assault. He had decided to pretty much leave them alone, unless they were in his line of fire, he didn't touch them. Unfortunately, because of the constant anti-air fire on his Primal Armour, it didn't have the opportunity to recharge, meaning it was at a quarter of its original strength. One direct shot from the Normals would break his shield, giving them a firing solution on Silent Howl armour. And Jonas was not about to go home in pieces.

The most recent attack had left an opening in the armour of the turret, the opening was tiny and there was no way he'd be able to fire missiles through it in there unless his luck increased, and another missile barrage would just make the hole bigger while not giving the results he wanted. Jonas did however come up with an alternative method to his fatal strike. He quick boosted backwards and shot up vertically. He needed distance to get momentum. When the distance he needed was achieved he hovered there for a moment moving slightly backwards. The guns of the Giga Base once again got target lock on him and they took this opportunity to bring him down, giving him everything they had. Silent Howl's Primal Armour flashed and shimmered before dispersing, signalling that it was down at last.

"This is it; now or never!" Jonas gave a loud battle shout as he dove straight for the large artillery turret on the top. He activated the laser blade attached to the side of Silent Howl's arm, causing the hilt to shoot out a long shimmering laser blade. Silent Howl's arm pulled back as it flew straight for the Giga Base. Right at the last moment he shot its arm forwards thrusting the blade into the turret at a downward angle piercing not only the turret but the coupling underneath and the fort itself. Silent Howl's arm moved and twisted causing the blade to wreck the Giga Base internally and do more damage. It was then that a loud rumble could be heard from within the Giga Base. A wash of relief came over Jonas who caused Silent Howl to retreat from the Arms Fort. His chain reaction had begun; fires began to spew from any hull breaches he had created and the turret erupted in a plume of fire and smoke sending shrapnel everywhere. Some of the wayward bits hit Silent Howl, dinging the armour and denting it slightly in places. He got lucky that none of the huge chunks hit his Next or he could have taken serious damage.

The Giga Base was out of commission. It had stopped moving and all the guns had ceased to function. Jonas flipped on the comms tuning into Embrace's frequency.

"Jobs done Ellysia, can we go home now?" A huge smirk was etched across his own cheeks. This had been his first Arms Fort kill and he was damned proud of it.

"That's some very nice work Jonas. We're all done here, head to location Gamma so we can load up onto the dropships and get outta here." Her voice was relaxed but Jonas detected that she was impressed by the destruction he had caused.

"What about the last few support Normals?"

"Leave them, they're retreating and we don't make any money from killing them so it would be a waste of ammo." Jonas chuckled as he saw the last Normals scurry off into the distance, he had no idea where they were going but as long as they didn't bother him, he didn't care. Jonas called the Omega team that had been responsible for the testing of his Vanguard Overbooster.

"Team Omega, this is Silent Howl. Mission Accomplished. The Giga Bases have been destroyed and all other units are retreating." This call was merely a formality. It was probable that they already knew and that they were waiting at point Gamma.

"This is Team Omega. We have confirmation from Team Alpha on the mission status. Congratulations, the testing was a complete success. We'll be at point Gamma where we'll decontaminate your Next and get it loaded onto your dropships."

"Roger that. I'm on my way." Jonas sat there feeling content with himself; the battle was tough so he thought a moments respite wouldn't hurt him. The Giga Bases still burned with a triumphant blaze.

"Hey Jonas, congratulations on your first Arms fort kill. I'm so proud of you." Jonas had been anticipating this call from Jessie and he had thought up the perfect reply for her comment.

"Piece of cake." Jonas couldn't help but add a huge amount of smugness to his retort.

"Oh really? Your vitals told a different story, I almost thought you'd give yourself a heart attack." Jonas couldn't see it but he knew she was grinning at the other end.

"Uhh Jessie. Could I… Ask you something?" Jessie almost jumped out of her seat; Jonas' voice was suddenly so timid and humble. It was like he was clutching at small threads of courage to ask the most important question of his life. She racked her brain trying to think of what the question could be. Would he ask her out on a date? Would he ask if she liked him? What could it be? Jessie's tone of voice matched Jonas'.

"Yeah… What is it?"

"Where's point Gamma?" Jessie sat there dumbstruck, blinking vaguely. She slapped her palm against her forehead as a huge sign of Jonas' own stupidity. She composed herself quickly. It was her job to relay important information to him. She brought up a large birds-eye view map on her screen. She scanned it looking for the location. Point Gamma was a little green flashing pixel whilst Silent Howl was the small blinking blue one.

"It's 150 kilometres west of your current location." Jessie leant back on her black leather chair and ran her fingers through her hair; she muttered something so quiet her headset didn't pick it up.

"He'd never like me that way."

Jonas checked his own map in Silent Howl; locking on to the location he activated his boosters as hard as he could push them. Travelling at about 600 kilometres an hour meant he would get there in 15 minutes. Jonas noticed that his Primal Armour had fully recharged. He could almost double his speed if he used his Overbooster, which sucked the life of his shield and used the Kojima Particles to propel the Next forwards. Overall he'd probably make it point Gamma 5 minutes earlier.  
He grabbed the throttle to the side of him and thrust hit forward activating the Overbooster sending a slight shudder through his Next. A compartment on the back of the Core opened up showing a new set of boosters. They glowed brightly as they drew on the Kojima Particles of his Primal Armour before expelling them in a huge blast, sending Silent Howl rocketing forwards.

As Jonas knew without a doubt, he had 30 seconds of flight time before his Over-booster cut out, the compartment on the back of the Core closed. He once again was boosting at his regular boosting speed, he had time to kill and he decided that Jessie would be his instrument.

"Hey Jessie, you there?"

"Huh? Yeah I am, just writing up a report. What's up?"

"Ah, not much, I got some time to kill on route to point Gamma. Anything special going on at home?" There was a slight pause before Jessie answer.

"Actually there is something." Jonas raised an eyebrow at this answer; he had just been making small talk hoping it would lead to something else. He didn't expect there to actually be something different going on back at home base.

"What? What's going on?" His voice was dripping with curiosity.

"It's Seth." It sounded like Jessie had put the mouth piece closer to her mouth so she could whisper her answer.

"What's up with him?"

"I dunno. He's been acting all secretive after you left for the mission 2 days ago. He's been meeting people in quiet areas and has even closed off a small part of the base."

"Closed it off? Why." Jonas' voice went slightly high pitched emphasising his surprise.

"I dunno. He's keeping all hush, hush about it." Jessie shrugged, not that anyone saw.

"Well I doubt it's anything big." Jonas also shrugged completely unaware that Jessie just did the exact same thing.

"Hopefully." Jonas reckoned he had around 8 minutes left before he made it point Gamma. He called Ellysia's frequency while keeping Jessie's open.

"Ellysia, you at point Gamma yet?"

"Yeah, I'm a minute away." Her voice was concise and snappy, an indication that any adrenaline rush earlier was well and truly gone. It occurred to Jonas that she'd probably withdraw back to her original reclusive self.

"Alright then, be there soon." Silent Howl's Primal Armour had recharged so Jonas activated his Over-booster to make better time.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12 – S.H.E.L.L.

Jonas stood on the gantry suspended above the Next hanger completely confused. He had been home for two days since the mission with the Giga Bases and it had also been 2 days since he had been accepted by the last of the three Lynx's that also made their home here. It had taken him a whole day to recover from the strange event that happened after the last mission. Ellysia, who after watching Jonas in battle, finally accepted him to the team. At the rendezvous point after the last mission, Ellysia had walked up to him and in a completely calm manner, thrust out her hand as a welcoming gesture. He had now seen both sides to Ellysia. The calm, always cool, reclusive Ellysia which dominated her personality and the slightly crazy Ellysia which appeared during missions. Jonas wouldn't say that she was an adrenaline junkie, just enthusiastic. She had said to him about how she was impressed with his combat ability and that she had finally accepted him as one of their own. Jonas couldn't help but be proud, it beamed off of him and Ellysia felt it. So she decided to throw a 'don't get ahead of yourself' statement for good measure and walked off towards her dropship which had been loaded with Embrace and was ready for takeoff. Silent Howl was going through the process of being loaded onto the dropship itself.

Jonas looked around himself; Ellysia was there, who just nodded when their eyes met and Takaru who was leaning on the railings whistling to himself. It didn't seem to occur to him that below, lay a 15 metre drop and if he was to slip, nothing would break his fall, save for the cold metal ground at the end. What astonished Jonas was that below him, on the hanger floor, was every single member of the base. Close to 70 people was standing below him chatting amongst themselves. He tried to pinpoint Jessie but she had been swallowed up by the sea of faces. On each side of this crowd were the docking bays where each Next resided. Jonas shuffled around as a sign of impatience. He had been waiting 10 minutes now because Seth had some sort of big announcement to make, and no announcement could start without the main man, so each and every one of them were to wait for him. Whether he was just building suspense or sorting out some last minute matters were a mystery. Jonas decided that now was a good time to vent his frustration.

"Dammit! Where the hell is he? I got better things to do than stand around here doing nothing."

"Relax Jones, he'll be here. Let's face it, you don't have anything better to do, you don't have a mission lined up and Silent Howl looks as peachy as always." Takaru followed up his retort with a big shrug and continued whistling. And as usual, Ellysia just said nothing. Jonas took a moment to look at the large banner behind him; it was covered by a large white sheet. The banner was facing everyone below him so whatever Seth was doing, it had to be big to warrant a covered sign. He paced a bit more while he waited.

Seth arrived on the scene walking as if he didn't have a care in the world. He walked up to Ellysia and pecked her on the cheek followed be a nod to Jonas and Takaru. Realizing that Seth had arrived, the whole bay went silent as if a celebrity had walked on stage. They watched him; a couple of people murmured between themselves but were watching none the less. Seth walked to the edge of the gantry and placed his hands on the railing. He took a deep breath hoping the echo would carry his voice.

"Everyone I have called you all here to make an important announcement. Since we have got our fourth and final member of the team, we are complete. I have taken the initiative to inform all the companies that we are no longer a small band of mercenaries out to make a little bit of money but that we are now an official independent squadron of hired guns. You could all say that we are now an organisation ourselves and we are in the business of mercenary work. This will get us more jobs and better pay. And as a squadron, we need a name."

Seth walked over to the giant sign and grabbed a corner of the white cloth covering it, with a huge tug; he whipped off the sheet showing the sign underneath. Five letters were painted on the sign. Seth turned back to his audience.

"I have called us the S.H.E.L.L Squadron. The name is made up of the first letters from the names of our Nexts. Silent Howl, Embrace, Linebreaker and Lockheart. So from here forth, we will be known as S.H.E.L.L!" The bay erupted with a cacophonous applause. The echo made the noise almost unbearable and Jonas almost found himself covering his ears. Seth waved the crowd back to silence.

"Now for the next matter at hand. A lot of you have noticed that I have sealed off a portion of the base and now to give you the reason. As I speak, the place is being unsealed. The reason is, is that we have been setting up a gift to everyone here. We have built a brand new pub which I have heard has been needed for a while."

Before he could finish about a third of the people in the crowd gunned it in the direction of the newly build pub. Never had the base seen such a stampede. The people who remained were cheering, Seth had anticipated that some people would rush off for a desperate pint and the place was already opened, ready for their first customers. The other three looked at Seth with a large deal of suprise. Seth continued on to his audience which was now one third smaller.

"This pub was built to celebrate the setting up of our organisation and I hope you all enjoy it, getting all the booze wasn't easy I can tell you. Now, to S.H.E.L.L!" Seth thrust his fist in the air and the whole place again erupted in cheer. He walked off the gantry with a smirk; turning around to face the three astounded teammates.

"Get yourselves a pint guys." The three remaining members looked at themselves, and then Jonas looked at the small room above the bay where they used to have their drinks.

"Guess we won't need that place anymore." Takaru nodded and began walking off. He turned around to the other two.

"A drink sounds good, you two coming?" Ellysia was the first to respond.

"Yeah I'm coming." Jonas however waved the two off.

"I'll join you there soon." He said with a spaced out look.

"Alright Jones, I'll get you a cold one when I get there." The pair walked off. Jonas looked below where the crowd had been. The crowd had dispersed leaving only a small fraction of the people who were there to begin with. He saw Jessie among the remaining few who waved when she noticed Jonas was watching. Jonas beckoned her up; she nodded to whoever she was talking to and made her way towards him.

Jonas turned to face the sign stared at it.

"Shell huh? I'm actually part of a fully fledged mercenary organisation. Who would have thought I'd come this far. But why am I so on edge? It almost feels like something's going to happen soon. Nah, it's probably nothing." Jessie had made it up to the gantry and tapped him on the shoulder. Jonas swung around to see her standing there with a curious smile on her face.

"You alright Jonas?"

"Huh? Yeah I'm fine. Hey do you uhh, want to get a drink at the new pub?" Jessie chuckled slightly which eased Jonas somewhat, and he replied with a smile.

"I thought you'd never ask, come on. Let's go." The pair walked off towards the pub but not before Jonas gave a glance back at the banner.

The two of them walked through the twisting corridors of what was now called S.H.E.L.L Central if Jessie was to be believed. Apparently some of the people she worked with saw the name pop up in the systems a few week beforehand. This meant that Jonas had become part of them long before he thought he did. However at the time, Seth was the only person who knew what S.H.E.L.L meant leaving everyone else confused.

The pair finally made it the new pub and opened the double doors. Jonas eyes widened at what he saw. By what he could tell, the room used to be a large conference room big enough for a couple dozen people. But the large table in the middle had been removed and was replaced by smaller two man tables around the edge of the room with a couple of four man tables in the corner. Most of the tables were occupied leaving a couple left. At the far end of the pub was the drinks bar with a couple of stools. Takaru and Ellysia were occupying the stools by the bar. Jonas and Jessie walked up to the two Lynx.

"Hey Takira, Ellysia." Jonas said with a small wave. Takaru looked straight towards them.

"Ahhh Jones, I'd tell you pull up a stool but there isn't any left." Jonas quickly shook his head.

"Nah, it's cool. I just want that drink you said you were getting me." Takaru replied with an obviously fake puzzled look, he put a finger on his lips and looked up.

"I said that? Gee whiz Jones, I must have forgotten." Jonas rolled his eyes.

"Pffft. Should have guessed."

"Ahhh, shut up Jones and get it yourself. You're a big boy now." Takaru followed up with a laugh. Jessie joined in, even Ellysia giggled under her breath. They weren't at all drunk; it was more to do with the atmosphere. They didn't have time to get drunk, the two of them only got to the pub 5 minutes before Jonas did. The bartender approached them catching Jonas' eye.

"Heya Jonas, Names Ordo. What do ya want?" Jonas thought about how funny it was that the bartender knew his name, but then he reminded himself, Silent Howl belonged to him and everyone knew what Next occupied the bays and their pilots.

Jonas had to ponder the answer; it had been ages since he drank anything alcoholic, mainly because it wasn't easy to come by. With the planet in the state it's in. Brewing wasn't easy. Chances are a lot of the drinks offered were probably synthesised. But Jonas remembered that the last alcoholic drink he had was Cider so he reckoned why not just have it again.

"I'll have whatever Cider you have."

"Righto. And for you missy?" Jonas looked at Jessie feeling annoyed that the bartender knew his name but not hers. She was just as intricate to the running of the Next as he was.  
"Glass of wine… If you have it." With a nod, Ordo prepared the drinks and plopped them in front of them. Ordo smiled and said.

"First ones on the house for everyone. Seth's orders." Jessie thrust her fist into the air.

"Bonus!" She grabbed Jonas by the arm and dragged him to a table leaving him just enough time to grab his drink which split slightly. Takaru and Ellysia watched as Jonas got dragged by the arm to a table and then sat down. The pair on the stools could see that the other two were talking and laughing at the other end of the pub. Takaru turned to Ellysia who sipped her drink.

"You know what? I think those two would make a really cute couple." Ellysia shot him a 'what the hell you on about' look.

"Huh? How so?"

"Well. Look at them now, laughing and joking. They've known each other since they were kids right? They hang out with each other a lot. They seem like a perfect match for each other." Ellysia reckoned that Takaru was being sincere about his comment so she replied in kind.

"Yeah, I suppose if you looked at it from that point of view it makes sense. But if you think about it, they've been friends from childhood. Chances are they've established a more family orientated bond. The kind of bond between a brother and sister. Besides, I haven't noticed anything different about Jessie or Jonas to indicate they have feelings for each other. If they do, they hide it well; really well." Ellysia took another sip of her drink and Takaru spun around to eye up the other two again back spun back to Ellysia.

"I don't know. When I look at them. I think… There has just got to be something going on. With at least one of them. And Jonas doesn't strike me as the 'hide everything from everyone' kind. He never has."

"So you think Jessie likes him?"

"Maybe, like you said. They could be hiding it really well." The pair on the stools went quiet. Takaru downed his drink and stood up, Ellysia did the same. Takaru turned to Ellysia.

"Well I'm going topside for some fresh air." Ellysia got the distinct feeling that Takaru felt uncomfortable.

"Well I'm going to my room to lie down. You uhh, don't feel uncomfortable do you Takaru?" Takaru shot her a grin.

"Who me? Nah, I enjoyed the chat. Was good, but I'm getting a bit of a headache. We are quite a ways underground, so the ventilation can't be great." The pair walked towards the double doors. Neither Jonas, nor Jessie noticed them leave.

"See you later Takaru."

"Later Ellysia." The pair went their separate ways.

Back at Jonas' table the two of them were talking about the mission that had just finished, they were laughing at the fact that Jonas thought he could now take on bigger foes with ease and his over confidence amused Jessie.

However in a surprising turn, Jessie's mood changed dramatically and Jonas sensed this, he wasn't going to say anything first and thus an awkward silence hung in the air. It took a minute before Jessie said anything.

"Jonas. You know… You know, I'm really proud of you." She grabbed her glass with one hand and ran her finger around the rim with the other. Jonas figured that she was a bit embarrassed by what she said. However, with her manner the way it was, it was obvious she was being sincere so Jonas was surprised by the comment, his eyes widened before he answered.

"What makes you say that?" Jessie continued with her current manner.

"It's just that… So much has happened in the past few months… You've really come a long way since Havita. Joining this group and making a name for yourself like you have. Not only that but you've changed personally to. You're more confident that you used to be. I'm sorry I was a jerk when we first arrived here." Jonas gave Jessie a smile, for her to tell Jonas this would be a rare occasion so he thought that he'd just enjoy the sincerity, even if this was unbefitting of her personality.

"You don't need to apologise, I know you was just looking out for me. You've always been there for me, I wouldn't expect any different." Jessie blushed and unlike other times in the past, Jonas noticed it this time. Jonas thought to himself, was the embarrassment causing her to blush or was there something else behind it. He had no idea.

"I just wanted you to know what I thought."

"Hah it's fine. It was quite refreshing." She was blushing harder, she stopped running her finger around the rim of the glass.

"Also there's something else." She reached out her hand and placed it on Jonas' who had it resting next to his glass. Over a thousand alarms bell went off in his head. This wasn't an accident, it was intentional. This was so unlike her, to do this. Jonas started blushing to. He wasn't used to these situations and this caused him to feel a lump in his throat that wouldn't budge.

Jessie looked into his eyes; it occurred to Jonas that in this state, she looked so fragile, so timid. A huge contrast the sarcastic personality she used to convey. Jessie looked at the table.

"You see… I…" There was a long pause. Jonas' heart was racing and his head was coming with every possible thing that Jessie could say. She looked back into his eyes, staring into his very soul.

"Jonas, I…" This was interrupted by the speakers system going off. It droned out Jessie, only a booming Seth could be heard instead.

"Ellysia, Takaru, Jonas. Get your asses to the briefing room; something urgent has come so get here… Like now!" Seth's voice had completely destroyed the mood between them. Jessie had retracted her hand from Jonas' and clenched it. She stared at her glass, she knew what was coming and she steeled herself against it. Her perfect chance to express how she felt and she blew it. The moment was gone, unrecoverable.

Jonas stood up, pushing the chair with the back of his legs almost knocking it down. He pointed towards the door with his thumb.

"I uhh, gotta go and… See what Seth wants." But Jessie didn't look up, so Jonas just headed towards the doors and pushed himself through them. He stood by the wall next to the door and slammed against it hard, hitting his head.

"What the fuck was that?!"

Jonas thought hard, his mind a flutter over what Jessie was trying to say. All the pieces stated to fit together, the way she spoke to him on missions. Sudden changes in her personality whenever he was about. Like a jigsaw, bits were coming together. Then it clicked; the final piece.

"She really likes me. She has genuine feelings for me. Dammit." Jonas slapped his face with his hands and ran to the briefing room. Not quite sure what to make of the situation.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: A mission built for 4

Seth had walked through the door to his office which also doubled as the briefing room and general conference room for the Lynx of S.H.E.L.L. He sat in front of his computer and logged in. It was only ten minutes ago that he had announced to the whole base about the forming of the organisation which they all a part of. However, Seth reckoned the most important part of the speech was the bit about the new pub opening. That was certainly what got the audience riled up anyway. Overall, he was happy with the way it went. Seth would make use of the pub soon; however he would wait for the crowd to die down first.

Seth was on the computer to look up his results from the training he did earlier in the simulator. The simulator gave a perfect simulation of Next combat and piloting. It also measured AMS capability and brain activity during the training. As well as statistics for the skill of the user compared to previous training, it allowed Lynx to see if they had gotten better or worse.

He hit up his profile with instinct and checked out the graphs, lots of squiggly lines ran along the screen, his reaction times seemed to be fluctuating slightly, nothing to be worried about as they kept their general rhythm. His AMS capability had also improved slightly, allowing for what the statistics shown, and extra flight time of 3 minutes. It was better than nothing. However this shouldn't be fully trusted as law as the rate at which a Lynx reached their limit was dependant on the pace of the battle.

Seth leant back in his chair; he was the only one in the whole base who trained at least once every week. As the leader of this organisation, he had to be the shining example to everyone else; that meant being in peak condition. He couldn't afford to get rusty. Thankfully, nobody else showed signs of sloppy piloting either so he didn't have to force any training onto his teammates.

He logged out of his simulation profile but was surprised to see a new profile among the few that were already there. There was the four for the lynx' and a couple of others who used it fun. The simulator had the ability to switch to easy mode, allowing for people with no AMS capability to pilot a Next like a pro much like a video game. However this new profile was flagged as a 'standard' mode user which meant their AMS capability was applied to the simulation and piloting the Next. Someone in this base had tried their luck at piloting a Next like a true Lynx.

He read the name, it said Jessie. Seth thought for a moment before muttering something.

"That's Jonas' operator. Let's see how she fared compare to us." He logged into her profile, his administrator privileges allowed him to go everywhere in the system. He scanned the graphs on the screen. Reaction times were normal, noting special there. The time to complete the simulation was average, about half a minute later than Seth's own time.

He decided to get to the good stuff and checked out her AMS capability. He coughed in surprise, he couldn't believe it. Her AMS capability was around higher than his AMS levels. Seth's own capability was nothing special but this was still surprising.

"Who would have thought she could become a Lynx." Seth calmed down. To him there was little cause for getting worked up. There was already 4 Lynx' and 4 Nexts. There just wasn't any more room in the base for a fifth Next. However it occurred to Seth that she could become a substitute down the line.

"I'll ask Jonas about this later, no need to bother him now I suppose." He logged out of her profile and out of the simulation to bring back to his home screen. His missions tab was flashing indicating a new mission had been put forward to him. He clicked it to see how many. There was only one. The missions name was 'Defend energy power plant'. The client was the League. Seth clicked the mission to get a detailed description of what was involved. This mission involved him because if it was aimed at one of the other Lynx they would have got it on their computer instead. While all missions had to be agreed by him, if he wasn't the one being hired, he wouldn't have seen it until he was told about it.  
The mission details made Seth gasp. The mission was directed at all the Lynx, they were all being hired for one job. The reward, while it would be split evenly between them, was still staggering none the less. It was the highest amount he'd ever seen for one mission. But this concerned him; the League was asking all the Lynx of S.H.E.L.L to take part in the mission. For some reason, it was a 4 man job. Seth clicked the mission briefing, causing a long detailed paragraph to show. The mission was labelled urgent, this usually meant he about a couple of hours to accept it or he would automatically decline. He skimmed over the briefing. Then checked the time received. His computer got the mission half an hour ago. He reached for the microphone which would project his voice over the entire base. He pressed the button.

"Ellysia, Takaru, Jonas. Get your asses to the briefing room; something urgent has come so get here… Like now!"

Hopefully they hadn't already gotten drunk at the pub. There was a good deal of risk associated with this mission, and he needed his team's full support in accepting it. The offer seemed too good to be true and in this world it probably was. Seth leant back in his thinking of the prospects. Even with the reward split between four, each separate amount was equalled to two single missions. That was before ammo and repair deductions however. He twiddled his thumbs in anticipation, reading the briefing over and over again. He flicked the screens behind him on and merged them into one large screen so the people in front of him could see the big deal.

Ten minutes later Jonas burst through the door panting slightly. It was obvious to Seth that he had dashed here as quickly as he could.

"Ellysia and Takaru behind ya?"

"Nope, I came here alone." Jonas stopped panting and walked up to Seth's desk placing his palms on it for support. It appeared to Seth that Jonas was in deep thought; he had his eyes closed facing towards the floor. He had to snap out of it so he could have his full attention.

"Liking the new pub Jonas?" This snapped Jonas out of his state quickly, his head shot up.

"Huh? Yeah it's uhh, awesome." There was some hesitation in that sentence but Seth didn't notice.

"Only awesome? Pity, I was hoping for more." Seth laughed and Jonas replied with a weak smile.

It was at the time that the last two walked in through the doors, neither of them looked at all out of breath. Seth didn't waste time for them to walk across the room to his desk, he got straight into it.

"O.k. guys we have a new mission, and were ALL being hired." By the time Seth had finished his sentence, the other two had made their way to his desk; they all looked at each other and raised their eyebrows. Ellysia was first to speak what they were all thinking.

"What?! This mission requires all four of us?" Seth nodded and brought up the details on the screen behind him.

"The League wants us to help defend a large energy power plant; they are anticipating an attack within the next few days so this is an urgent request. The size and composition of the assault is unknown, we have no idea who coming for the party." Jonas looked at Seth cock-eyed.

"Doesn't this sound risky; we have no idea who's coming. Also it's an urgent mission needing quick attention. It sounds like a trap." Seth put a finger up to signal Jonas to shut up.

"The amount we're being offered is staggering. Simply put. We would each make the same amount equal to 2 full missions." Everyone stood is disbelief; they couldn't believe what there were hearing. Seth continued.

"The reason they are offering so much is because according to the brief, the power plant is absolutely essential to the operation of facilities in that part of the country. They can't afford to lose this, or a country wide black out would hit the League. So needless to say, they're pulling all the stops." Seth hit a button on his computer and a large map appeared on the screens behind him, it showed two different points. Seth pointed to each of them.

"This is the power plant and this is our drop zone. The drop zone is approximately 1 hour away from the power plant so we'd have to travel there in out Nexts. The distance is for security reasons. The briefing says that the plant is big enough for us to have to split up and each defend a separate portion of the base, although the points aren't specified at the moment."

Seth looked at each person individually, each of them looked uneasy. He could see the caution in them and it was to be expected. They had never gotten a mission like this before but the rewards were staggering.

"So… Are we taking this job? Our first job as S.H.E.L.L also happens to be our biggest ever. We in?" The other three looked at each other trying to read the answer on the other. Takaru looked at Seth.

"I'm in, sure it sounds like a death trap but the rewards are just too big to pass up." Seth looked at the other two who were still deep in thought. Jonas was the next to answer.

"Sure… Why not." It occurred to Seth that Jonas was still unsure, his lack of enthusiasm proved this. All eyes were on Ellysia now, she just nodded her answer. Seth ended his briefing on a final note.

"Right, it settled." He pressed some keys on his keyboard, and then made the last key press long winded for extra effect.

"And it's been accepted, were to be there in 2 days, which means we leave tomorrow at 6 in the morning, sleep well." As everyone turned to leave Seth stood up.

"Oh and Jonas, stick around for a second please." Takaru and Ellysia looked at Jonas.

"Haha, busted Jones. Not sure what for but busteeeeed!" The two closed the door behind them. Jonas looked at Seth with anticipation, he couldn't help but think what he might have wanted.

"Right Jonas. There something I need to talk to you about." Seth sat back down and clasped his hands together. A trickle of sweat ran down his spine.  
"I need to talk to you about you operator Jessie." Jonas almost jumped out of his skin; the name brought back all the memories from 20 minutes ago in the pub and the awkwardness that came with it.

"W- What about her?" Seth noticed Jonas' nerves and sighed.

"For God's sake Jonas. Calm yourself. You're not in trouble. Just need to ask you something." Jonas took a deep breath and to his surprise it helped, he calmed down considerably. Enough for him to squeeze out sentences without stuttering. Jonas nodded with confidence which caused Seth to smile.

"Good. I'll cut to the chase. Did you know that Jessie has an AMS capability slightly higher than yours? In short. Did you know she could become a Lynx." Jonas nodded.

"You did?! Then why was I never told? This is important information Jonas. Listen, I'm not having a go. I just want to know, I reckon you have a good reason for not saying anything." Jonas nodded again.

"I never told anyone. Other than me and Jessie herself, you're the only person that knows. How'd you find out?"

"She's been using the simulator in standard mode. I saw the results. How'd you find out." Jonas paused for a moment to think back to his days at the Havita colony.

"Well it was about just under a year ago back at Havita. I wanted to test her AMS capability so I got her to have a go in the simulator on standard mode. She was happy to have ago, I mean, she'd done it in easy mode and I wanted to try something a little different. To both our surprise, she had an AMS capability high enough to pilot a Next." Seth listened intently, not completely satisfied.

"So why isn't she a Lynx then. Why is she still only an operator?" Jonas shook his head.

"She never wanted to be a Lynx. I asked her if she wanted to be a Lynx and she downright refused. She liked her position as an Operator and so did I. I wasn't going to force her to become one because it wasn't needed." Seth nodded, the picture was clear for him.

"And you never told me because you were worried I make her a Lynx. Correct?" Jonas shook his head.

"That wasn't it at all. It's just that nothing needed to be said. If you needed to know, I would have told you." Seth stood up and nodded his head.

"Fair enough. I have never liked people keeping things from me but I guess it wasn't all that important. I just wanted to know. People with a high AMS capability are rare so I was curious." Jonas shook his head trying to downplay what he said.

"Nah, its fine. Don't worry about." Seth nodded and smiled.

"Guess everything's sorted, get some rest. Busy day tomorrow." Seth laughed.

"Sure will be, see ya." Jonas turned around and walked out the door, closing it behind himself. Seth switched off the monitor behind him and his computer terminal. Despair crept up on his face.

"God… I hope accepting this mission was the right thing to do." Seth let out a long sigh.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Just a game of numbers

Jonas sat there in the cockpit of Silent Howl. An hour ago, the team made it to the energy plant and had been given their assigned defensive positions. The size of the plant was astounding. From above, the energy plant was in the shape of a gigantic square, and each side was half a kilometre long.

One thing the League failed to mention in the briefing was that not only did the energy plant distribute energy to surrounding areas, but it also doubled as an Arteria facility. The League never got round to saying why. These types of power plants provided power to the Cradles that flew above. Once Ellysia had gotten wind of this, her determination turned from that of someone who just wanted the job done to a fanatical minded stubbornness. Jonas reckoned that she was worried that if even one of the energy distributors was destroyed, the Cradle carrying her family could plummet to earth and be utterly obliterated: As well as all life on board.

Each of the four Lynx had been posted on each corners of the square. From here they had a good view of the surrounding area and they could rush to assist the others if the need arose. Their main priority was to make sure the command tower in the very centre wasn't heavily damaged. The tower was a tall cone that got wider the further down it got. Smaller buildings littered the base of the tall structure while power distributors were dotted around the outside of the buildings.

The League made a note that while the staff had been evacuated before they got there, they would need to return after the battle. They also made a note that if the large tower was destroyed, the energy plant would ether shut down, causing a massive blackout or would enter a meltdown state and explode. Either way, the Arteria facility there would cease functioning, which for the cradles, meant cutting a vital artery that provided their life-blood.

Each member of the team had their own thoughts running through their head. Seth thought about how if this mission was successful, they would both make a name for themselves and make a huge ton of cash. There was a new top of the line set of leg parts he had been eyeing up since he accepted the mission. But overall he was nervous since he had never attempted something of this calibre before.

Takaru, with his egotistical nature, thought about getting the most kills out of the whole team and that if he did, how he'd brag about it afterwards. Also people would know that Takaru was the best sniper out there. Better than his brother was. He had a lot of pride riding on this fight and he intended to win. His feeling was that of eagerness as he intended to prove himself to a watching world.

Ellysia sat there playing an image of the Cradles crashing into the ground and the looks of her parent's faces before they perished in the ensuing firestorm. This was done to increase her determination to protect all she held dear, as for every time she played the image in her head, she felt like she would throw up. She had the most riding on this battle and she knew it. While she knew that the team was there to help, she felt utterly alone being the only person with something to fight for. Her feeling was that of frantic determination.

Jonas' thoughts were the only thoughts not related to the mission, while this caused him to be the calmest; it also made him the most unready for what approached. He kept thinking of Jessie and how he had patched things up with her. It made him feel better knowing that there was nothing wrong between them.

Before he went to bed after the mission briefing, he went to Jessie to talk to her. It took all of his courage to confront her about what she tried to say in the pub. And he knew exactly what she was trying to say to him.

When he reached her bedroom, she couldn't look him in the eye. Jonas had reckoned that this was because she felt too awkward which was understandable. Her attempt at explaining her feelings for him had blown up in her face. The moment had passed and she knew it. Jonas saw her lying on top of her bed which was in the corner of the room. When he approached her she rolled over so that her back was to him. He sat on the edge of the bed by her legs and let an uneasy silence consume them both. It was a while before anyone spoke so he thought he'd have to be the one to break the silence.

"Listen, about that time in the pub. I know what you were trying to say." He looked over his shoulder to see there was a response; he was surprised to see she had stiffened considerably. He was really hoping she'd loosen up a bit. "And I want you to know that it's fine to feel that way." Jonas unconsciously used his most sincere and caring voice he had. He kept watching her, pleased to see that she began to relax: he heard a muffle come from her.

"I think… that I have really strong feelings for you. I think I really like you." She muttered, finally finishing her sentence she tried to say at the pub. Jonas put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"You've been showing signs of that for a while now, the way you've been acting, sudden changes in personality. It all fits." Jonas withdrew his hand and stared at the floor. "I'm just an idiot for not noticing earlier." Jessie pushed herself up and propped herself against the wall. She thought long and hard about her next question as she glanced as Jonas.

"Do you… like me back?" At the sound of this, Jonas sat up and turned towards her taking a deep breath.

"I dunno, I don't think so. You're like a sister to me, you always will be but as for having deeper feelings than that. I can't find them. Maybe I'm waiting for something. Maybe my feelings will grow since you have feelings for me. But for right this moment, I don't like you like that." Jonas looked into her eyes, showing the worry of how she'd respond to that but to his surprise she took it extremely well. She gave him the sweetest smile she could before bringing her knees up and hugging them.

"I kinda figured that that's what you'd say, and I don't mind. Just knowing that I can hang out with you without having to hide my feelings is good enough for me." Jonas shifted closer to Jessie slightly.

"Well I don't mind one bit." He stood up and turned to her extending his hand. She'd eyed his hand curiously, twisted to face him and grabbed it. Instantly Jonas pulled her and hugged her tightly. "I don't mind it at all." He muttered quietly. Jessie closed her eyes and just enjoyed the cuddle with the man she wanted to be with, letting the smile creep back onto her lips.

The hug was a fairly long one but when Jonas broke it, Jessie found herself disappointed. He turned around and approached the door, his hand grabbing the door handle but stopping there.

"Besides, I can't have you moping around like a moody teenager now. Can I? I need you on top form tomorrow." Jonas spun his head around revealing a cheeky grin. Jessie tilted her head to one side, grinning back.

"Nope, can't have that at all." With this said Jonas opened the door and walked out waving with his free hand. He stepped out and closed the door behind him. He took a deep breath and headed for his own room, feeling pleased that it all turned out well.

Back at the present however things were going to get hectic really quickly. Jonas wiped away the thoughts of his past few days and focused on the now. Seth chimed in over the comms.

"This is Linebreaker. All Nexts report in." There was an air of authority around his voice. He knew he was in command of his team and he embraced it. One by one, each Lynx reported their status.

"Embrace here, standing by."

"Lockheart here, ready to kick ass."

"Silent Howl here, all systems are green and ready for action."

"Good, the small remnant of staff that stayed behind in the plant is going to act as control. They report that the enemy is nearly here and are activating the defence turrets to provide suppressing fire. We're to stay on the premises to avoid being riddled with holes."

Immediately, the tops of the wall surrounding the power plant opened their hatches to reveal large auto cannons that rose up. The cannons were of different sizes, some meant for taking out small fighters and helicopters, some were meant to shoot down Nexts. All the cannons aimed in the direction that pointed away from the plant.

"Linebreaker here again. Control has informed me that they will not be reporting the enemy's numbers to you, only the status of mission specific objectives, go to your operators for enemy details." Jonas opened the private communication line to Jessie.

"You hear that Jessie, surely your tower camera feed should see the numbers by now. How many are coming for my zone?"

"One second Jonas." Back at S.H.E.L.L central, she sat in front of her large console. The large monitor displaying all she needed to know. She had requested and been given control access to the high definition security cameras that were placed on the top of the plant's central spire. Their height and ability to turn and zoom in let her see everything at a distance. She zoomed in with the camera and counted the dots representing the enemy units. "I count 10 so far, they're all Normals of unknown classification." The people running the energy plant we're being fairly accommodating in letting them complete their mission.

"Gotcha Jessie." Jonas cracked his knuckles and rolled his shoulders, loosening himself up. "So partner, you ready for the biggest fight of our lives?" He said with eagerness.

"You got it. Good luck out there, and nail the bastards." Jonas just grinned maliciously. A few seconds passed as he waited.

"Control here, enemy is within range of zones 1 through 4, laying down suppressive fire now." A second later, the auto cannons fired at the horizon, attempting to destroy the unwanted guests, the volume of fire was intense and would tear an unwary Next to pieces, which was why he was ordered to stay inside the base and protect the means of entering through the gap in the corners. These gaps were large enough to fit several Nexts through at once. He also had to watch for flyers travelling over the wall; it was annoying for him though. The wall was as twice as high as Silent Howl so it was difficult to see beyond the energy plant without revealing himself.

Jonas moved Silent Howl around the wall's main opening to get a view of the carnage, and what he saw was just that. Normals were been riddled with bullets, their allies tried to use the wreckage of their fallen comrades as cover but the rain of fire just enveloped the area. Nothing could get through the wall of death made by the sheer amount of bullets. The amount of dust being kicked up was comparable to a massive sandstorm. After a minute of continuous firing however, the auto cannons then suddenly stopped. Jessie chimed in with a mission update.

"The cannons have successfully destroyed the first wave. This was just a test though; they're measuring out the firepower we have. They'll find a way around the turrets in the second wave and that's when you come in." Jonas nodded but couldn't help thinking that if this was the extent of the enemy force, why was he even needed. Seth decided his voice of authority had to be projected.

"First wave is gone. Umm, good work team. Keep it up." Jonas couldn't help but chuckle. Takaru decided to voice his own opinion.

"The turrets are making short work of everything, why are we even here?"

"Don't let your guard down Takaru, or you'll regret it." Ellysia said sternly. An uneasy tension hung in the air. They all knew that it couldn't be this easy so why did the first wave get taken out so quickly? What would come in the second wave, it would have had to be twice as large as the second wave to overwhelm the turrets. In the end, this mission was just a game of numbers.

Jonas waited impatiently for the next wave.

"Hey Jessie, here's a question. How come you could tell that the first bunch of guys were all destroyed when all I saw was a massive dust storm?"

"Simple really, I also have a live feed to the turrets camera that the plant is giving me access to. It's using infra-red and thermal vision for finding targets, and I see what it sees and that was nothing but wreckage." Jessie replied.

"Hmph, fair enough." It was apparent he was getting edgy and irritated. The dust still hadn't settled so Jonas had no idea what was approaching. But just as he was going to ask if anything was out there, Jessie got to him first.

"Here they come, second wave is incoming Jonas, they're out of range of the turrets and I can't quite make out their shape, I'll see if I can get them on the security cameras." Back at Jessie's terminal she moved the camera feed to a ridge a distance away from the wall. There was one large boxy target surrounded by blobs, they were far away and the security camera couldn't zoom in any more. She studied them, when she managed to make out that the bigger target was aiming something, she knew what it was, and worry hit her face hard. "They're…"

Before she finished her sentence over the comms, one the turrets exploded in a flash of fire and scattered debris, this made Jonas jump so much he nearly hit his head on the top of his cockpit.

"What the hell!" He spluttered.

"They're using mobile artillery walkers it seems!" Seth replied with a sense of urgency. "They aren't Arms Forts but still formidable as weapon platforms. Get out there and engage them up close where they're weak. And watch out for their escort." Takaru and Ellysia acknowledged the order and Jonas just grunted. He was annoyed that he had been shocked so easily.

Another turret exploded violently as the artillery platform in his zone fired again. He made Silent Howl walk out of the entrance gap in the wall and boosted towards the artillery, getting ready to dodge the inevitable shot against him.

"Jonas, I got word from the other three operators for the team, the others are fighting the same force you are. There's one mobile artillery walker and five unknown Normals. They have also left the safety of the base to engage their targets. Well, except for Takaru, he hasn't budged an inch."

"Well that figures, he's sniping them. Nice to know they're spreading the love though I suppose: a fair amount for each Next." He said sarcastically as he quick-boosted to his right to avoid the barrage from the artillery walker. He was close enough to see what kind of Normals he was fighting too. They were middle-weight bipeds armed with rifles and shields. They were a dull grey with thin arms and legs but an angular body; its head looked like a brick with an antenna. The walker looked like a block with four legs; the turret on the top had three long barrels poking out of it.

At close range the mobile artillery would be useless so he decided to tackle that last, he wanting to get rid of the Normals first. Three Normals has positioned themselves on the left of the walker and two on the other side. He activated his over-booster, flinging him towards his enemies at great speed. He decided to tackle the two on the right first.

They fired at him but he was too quick with his over-booster on. It was draining his energy reserves and his Primal Armour but the distance closed in seconds. He was right in their faces now; he switched off the over-booster and activated the laser-blade causing a shining laser to extend out of the hilt. He brought Silent Howl into a swinging motion slicing one Normal in half, he aimed its rifle at the other Normal and fired taking off its head then punching a hole into its torso silencing it for good. It did, however, manage to get off a couple of direct hits on Silent Howl. The weakened Primal Armour soaked it up. He would need to be careful or risk being left unprotected.

The mobile artillery walker tried to revolve its turret but its large body meant it moved slowly. Its size made it larger than a Next but it was slow because of it. The Normals on the other side of the walker jumped out from behind the walker shooting at Silent Howl, he darted to the side keeping sure to have the walker stay between him and his targets.

He stopped for a second then changed direction, sending Silent Howl straight into the pursuing Normals. He spun round to the front of the walker meeting the Normals head on. He thrust his laser blade into the torso of one of them, and tossed it to the side as if it was rubbish. The other two reacted by shooting widely at him. Silent Howl's Primal Armour shone and flickered as it repelled the ordinance, every shot threatened to disperse the shield and leave him defenceless. He spun on the spot to face his enemies and activated his back mounted missile launcher. It reared it front towards the foes and opened all eight of its launcher pods. Once Jonas had a target lock he fired sending two waves of eight missiles at his opponents utterly decimating them and leaving nothing behind but scorched earth.

A few of the missiles had hit the walker behind them, crippling a leg. Jonas decided a flashy finish was in order. He boosted into the sky and landed right on top of the walker making it shudder under its weight. He lifted Silent Howl's laser blade into the sky and thrust it into the top of the beast. He jiggled the blade this way and that causing more internal damage.

As it threatened to explode in his face, he jumped off the wrecked artillery walker and boosted back towards the energy plant satisfied by the result of that small skirmish.

"All Nexts report in." He heard Seth say over the comms.

"Silent Howl here, my zone is safe."

"This is Embrace, same here,"

"Lockheart reporting, zone 2 is secure."

"Ok then, everyone return to the energy plant and take a breather. You can be sure they have more than that." Jonas had just flown over the wall landing with a massive thud.

"You see all of that Jessie?" Jonas inquired.

"Yep saw it all, nice move with the walker but then again, I wouldn't expect anything less from you." Jonas chuckled under his breath and took this moment to take a moment to relax. He rolled his shoulder and stretched as far as he could in his cockpit.

"See anything on the camera feed?" He asked.

"The camera feed can see as far as the ridge so anything beyond that I can't make out and the turrets are totalled. I can't see anything at all, so just be patient. I'll tell you when things show themselves." There was a slight hint of worry in her voice though Jonas couldn't pin it as to why.

"Guess it's time to take a break then, until we have more gatecrashers." Jonas slumped in his seat as he waited for the third wave of enemies.

"They'll be here any moment now." Jessie replied sternly. Jonas just grunted in response. Usually he was always on edge during missions but since his confidence grew, he allowed himself a break between rounds of fighting.

"Hey guys. I just thought of something. Why don't the enemy just send everything at once instead of attacking in waves? That would overwhelm us for sure." Takaru added.

Nobody could answer that question, no-one was sure of the reason behind the tactics that they were employing. Jonas just shrugged.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Infiltration

Jonas sat there in his cockpit waiting, trying to assess the situation. Sure he had relaxed slightly but that doesn't mean he couldn't get his bearings.

"Jessie, what the status of the energy plant?" He inquired.

"Huh? Well let's see here. The main defence objective hasn't been touched but every large auto cannon turret has been destroyed. The base defences are gone so you're all that's left for your zone. In fact, ever turret in every quarter is gone." The news of not only the turrets in his zone but the turrets in the other three zones sounded strange to him. It was too much of a coincidence to have every turret destroyed. It occurred to Jonas suddenly that that was the second wave's strategy: to destroy the turrets and they succeeded.

Jonas thought for a few seconds before it pinged within him. He concluded that the third wave would attack the central structure directly with their strongest force. But before he could utter a word, Jessie got to him first.

"I see movement! There's only one target but it's big." Her voice slowly increased with urgency. "It's an Arms Fort. From here it looks like a bulky flying saucer with wings and engines." Silent Howl boosted up onto the wall to see what he was facing. Surely enough, the large flying Arms Fort looked like exactly like Jessie described them. On the underside of the disk was what Jonas believed to be a large cannon. The Arms Fort was fairly slow as it was big, being about four times the size as a Next.

"Linebreaker here; we have two incoming Arms Forts, one from the east and one from the west. Takaru and Ellysia will form up along the western wall. Me and Jonas will form up to the east. Don't let them pass the wall or they'll be within range of the central building."

"So they're sending out the big guns now. This'll be fun." Takaru answered, part acknowledgement, part taunt.

"I've never seen these Arms Forts before. Are they new models?" Ellysia asked.

"Does it matter? Don't worry boss. We got this." Takaru finished up.

Jonas made Silent Howl jump off the wall he was standing on. Now outside the base, nothing was between him and his target. He'd destroyed an Arms Fort before; this one would be no different.

"Jonas, Seth here. I want you to move on an intercept course for the Fort. I'll join you as our paths cross. I want you to distract it with your speed so I can nail it with firepower." A frown appeared on Jonas' face. He did not like what he heard.

"So I'm bait then?" A small silence between them occurred as he made Silent Howl boost along his course.

"Essentially… Yes. Put on a good show for me." Jonas could have sworn he heard Seth laugh as he steeled himself for what was looming ahead. The Arms Fort was an unknown quantity as there was no data on it. If there was, Jessie would have been more accurate than 'bulky flying saucer with wings and engines'.

His intercept course put him travelling at an angle towards the Arms Fort that was committing itself for the eastern wall. He activated his Overbooster to close the gap quicker, causing him to rocket along the ground. He would have to be careful as to how long he would use his Overbooster, it drained his shield and he reckoned he would need it now more than ever. He could see the flicker of Next boosters in the far distance which he assumed was the Linebreaker.

Now he was close enough to make out that the under mounted cannon quickly revolved itself towards the Silent Howl, aiming straight for him. Jonas' hands tightened on the controls as he tried to anticipate what he would face, he switched off his Overbooster to conserve his shield power but kept boosting normally. If he anticipated wrong, his Primal Armour would have to take the hit for him.

The Arms Fort cannon fired, a shining blue laser beam flew straight for him. Luckily though, Jonas saw it and quick boosted to the right, the quick jolt of speed got him out of the way allowing the laser blast to smash into the ground a few feet to his side, bringing up debris and leaving a small crater. However the flying Fort wasn't finished, it followed up with a torrent of missiles that darted straight for the Silent Howl. Jonas saw the incoming missiles early and decided the best course for dodging them was to over-boost straight under them which would allow them to hit the ground behind him, however the timing was crucial. The dots that represented the missiles closed in quickly. He waited for the right moment, waited, until he saw it. He activated his Overbooster again and after a quick charge up, blasted himself forwards. The missiles didn't have time to compensate for the sudden speed increase and flew over Silent Howl, dotting the landscape behind him with little explosions.

He was close enough now to see everything clearly. He was nearly under the Arms Fort which was readying another blast from its under mounted laser cannon. He could also see the large, boxy Next that was the Linebreaker. A Next built for firepower and defence, it boasted two back mounted Gatling cannons and a heavy bazooka held in its hand. While it wasn't any bigger than the Silent Howl, it was better armoured and showed this by its extra bulk. Another thing Jonas saw was that the Linebreaker's Gatling cannons had begun firing at the Arms Fort unleashing a rain of fire. The amount of bullets it spewed out was too many to count.

The Arms Fort directed its attention towards the new assailant, revolving its laser cannon, aiming it at the Linebreaker who was circle strafing below. It fired a blinding blue laser again but the Linebreaker Quick-boosted to the side he was travelling, however due to the slower speed output of the boxy Next, the laser grazed its side, shearing off its Primal Armour making the Kojima Particles that made the shield disperse and flutter as they attempt to reconstitute themselves.

"I can't take another hit like that without suffering major damage." He muttered over the comms, unaware that the private line to Jonas was still open.

The damage on the Fort was beginning to show as it was riddled with bullets. Jonas decided to add to this by taking off into the sky bombing it straight for the Fort's left flank. He activated his missile launcher and after locking on, launching a torrent of eight missiles followed immediately by another salvo of eight. The Arms Fort responded to this by launching its own missiles at the Silent Howl. He managed to quick-boost to the side in time to avoid the majority of the missile but a couple of stragglers got his shield, lighting it a sickly green as it protected the Next within. The shield held but was considerably weakened. His missiles however, all hit their mark, obliterating the wing and damaging a thruster that propelled it forwards causing it to smoke. Astonishingly however, the Arms Fort held its course for the wall, which it was only twenty seconds from at the most.

The Arms Fort fired its laser cannon again but the Linebreaker managed to avoid it by completely changing direction. He stopped firing the Gatling cannons and fired with the bazooka instead, the shell impacted the Forts underbelly with a crunch, a hull breach was seen and fire spewed forth from the wound. The damage on the Fort was accumulating; it wouldn't be long before it went down. Jonas fired another salvo of missiles, making this the last of his launcher ammunition. This time he aimed for the same engine he damaged and hoped the missiles would hit, while a couple missed the majority hit their mark, decimating the thrusters causing it to explode in a crimson fireball. Jonas descended quickly to the ground.

The Arms fort began to plummet toward the ground heading straight for the wall surrounding the energy plant. On its way down however, it fired one last laser blast which caught the Linebreaker completely by surprise, it tried to dodge it but caught it on his arm, the Primal Armour kept out the majority of the beam but what got through decimated its arm tearing it off below the shoulder. It fell to the floor, hitting the ground with a thunk. Jonas could hear Seth swearing over the comms channel.

The Fort hit the ground but the momentum caused it to skid through the ground leaving a wide furrow in its wake, it kept going until the wall stopped it from going any further. The impact detonated a massive explosion which ripped a small section of the wall to pieces and blew the Arms Fort into many smaller chunks of metal, shards being sent in all directions.

And that was the end of the third wave. Jonas could hear Seth sigh heavily over the comms.

"Takaru, Ellysia. Report in."

"We got our Arms Fort boss, just made it over the wall but we got it in time. We've taken a couple of bumps and bruises but we'll be fine." Takaru responded.

"What about you Seth?" Ellysia asked.

"We got ours; I sort of lost an arm though." Seth next comment was dripping with jealousy "Jonas made it without a scratch, and he was the bloody decoy." Seth's jealousy amused Jonas immensely, so much that he laughed which everyone heard. But as soon as the laugh started, it stopped. His face became stern and serious.

Something didn't sit right with him, the attack was too disjointed, why send three waves when the force would over whelm them if were sent all at once. If this was a battle of attrition then there were better ways of doing it. But no, every wave seemed to have a purpose, if it was a battle of endurance, then a more subtle approach would have been taken but the waves came on the attack quickly after they appeared. They knew that the four Nexts would counterattack so why be so aggressive. Then a thought hit him hard, it didn't have any proof but it was something to go on. He spoke to all of them over the comms, including Jessie back at base.

"Do any of you think that this wave was a bit easy? It doesn't make any sense."

"Are you kidding me Jonas!? I lost a frigging arm to that flying beast." Seth commented angrily.

"Hear me out; I don't think that's it. My theory is, is that the first wave was to assess our firepower. The second wave was to destroy that firepower and leave an opening. Which means that the third wave was only a…" At that instance an explosion occurred within the confines of the energy plant. "…Distraction." Jonas finished. Seth swore, as did Takaru.

"Everyone back to the energy plan now!" Seth screamed. Both the Linebreaker and Silent Howl headed back over the eastern wall.

"Jessie!?" Jonas commanded.

"Hold on, there's something in the energy plant, I can't make it out because of all the machinery blocking the camera's view, but it looks Next sized. The explosion has also caused a small electrical disturbance, so you'll have no radar." Sure enough, as Silent Howl made it over the wall, the EMP caused the radar to become scrambled and unreadable, he would have to find his new opponent with his eyes.

Another explosion engulfed the base. Seth could be heard distinctively taking a deep breath.

"Ok, everyone fan out to your quarters and try to flush out the enemy, when you spot him, tell us and we'll converge on your position." Everyone acknowledged. Seth and Jonas went their separate ways to try and find the culprit to the surprise attack.

"Jessie, do you see it anywhere?" He muttered with haste.

"No! He's nowhere to be found, I can't see him, if the damn camera was quicker at turning, I'd be able to find it better."

"Well just try your best to scope the place out." Jessie replied an affirmative.

Silent Howl boosted around trying to locate the mystery Next that had infested the energy plant. The two explosions they saw earlier seemed to be confined to the power plant; the Arteria quarter of the complex was untouched. He kept a keen eye out for movement, but there was none. He checked corners and behind smaller buildings but found nothing. It was like this Next was a ghost. Jonas hated cat and mouse games, better to have an opponent in the open, so he could see him, zooming around the plant brought up to many possibilities of ambush. He got more and more frustrated until he could hold back his anger no longer.

"Anyone see him. I can't find him anywhere. Bastard is hiding somewhere."

"Hey Jones, keep your cool yeah, you're not gonna find him when you've blown your top. But no, I can't find him either." Takaru also sounded edgy which for him was different; the egotistical Lynx had become nervous. "Ellysia how about you?"

"No, I can't find…" Then Ellysia screamed at a pitch that made Jonas wince. Seth shouted over the comms. In reply

"Ellysia! Everyone converge on her quarter and back her up." Jonas said nothing, but headed there anyway. He was the furthest away being at the opposite quarter to hers; he would have to traverse the entire energy plant to get there. Nevertheless, he bolted it around the buildings and past the central structure. Then Ellysia spoke, obviously shaken at what happened.

"I'm alright; the Next got me out of nowhere. I didn't see him but wherever he is, he's gone again. Embrace took a hit but the Primal Armour kept some of it out, my main booster is damaged though and I'm down to 50 percent output." Jonas swore, more for the fact that the enemy appeared and disappeared heavily damaging his comrade than anything else. It occurred to him that this Next's Lynx was either extremely sufficient at guerrilla assaults or was a brilliant tactician. Neither was good for them. Jonas boosted back towards the main area of his quarter while Seth announced he was going to stay with Ellysia and back her up in case the Next picked on her again. Jonas searched frantically but kept a more calm mindset this time around, he wasn't going to be caught off guard like Ellysia was, and surely enough his keen eye caught a glimpse of something white as he turned the corner. It was just going around another building when he saw it.

"I think I saw it, I'm going to pursue before we lose it again." Then mentioned his current co-ordinates. He made Silent Howl boost around the corner giving himself a wide birth between his Next and the buildings corner so he would have enough reaction time to respond. Unfortunately for Jonas whatever had gone around the corner was gone. He stopped there and swore to himself. He scanned the area to see if he could see it again but he found nothing, which was until he caught something in the corner of his Next cockpit monitor. He turned toward the white Next heading for him, without enough time to respond with an attack he quick-boosted to the side, keeping an eye of his assailant, the Next was clear to him but it struck him that the Next wasn't a normal Next.

The white Next, for what Jonas saw, was around the same style his was. A middleweight class built for a good mix of speed and defence. It was sleek, like no Next he has seen before, each part of it curved in one way or another. The torso of the Next was something he had never seen before either; it was for the most part, just like a normal one except for at the back where the back-mounted weapons would go lay two thick wings of metal. However, the part that intimidated Jonas the most was the head. A row of blue lights shone around the front and side of the head like a visor, a thick horn protruded out the back of the head.

The mysterious assailant passed Jonas' left flank, as it passed it spun around in a 180 degree angle and raised its weapons, firing at Silent Howl's back. For Jonas this was happening to fast. Before he could think, the enemy had found him, passed him and had started firing. Luckily for Jonas however, Silent Howl's Primal Armour was at full strength having recharged from his previous skirmishes. The shots at the Silent Howl chipped away at its shield weakening it. Jonas pulled a hard quick-boost to the right to get Silent Howl behind a building that resided next to him. Silent Howl spun around to face the direction it had just come from to watch for any indication that the enemy would chase him round the corner.

Silent Howl flared it's booster towards the ground in order to take off. It rose into the sky, drifting backwards away from where he just was. Jonas needed to get some distance from where he thought the enemy was a couple of seconds ago. Jonas sat in the cockpit looking at the monitor, seeing whatever Silent Howl saw. He hovered there in the sky trying to find his opponent and to plan his next move but wherever he looked he couldn't see it. The buildings made it difficult to find anything of importance. He waited, watched like a hawk but nothing could be seen. The thought occurred to him that the white Next could only be called a ghost.

His Primal Armour started to recharge when Jonas noticed two missiles rocketing towards his position. Jonas cursed himself for seeing them too late. He was about to dodge them when each missile split apart into eight missiles each meaning sixteen missiles were now heading for him. Jonas gasped at the realisation that he wouldn't dodge them all. He cut his boosters that were keeping him in the sky allowing him to plummet towards the ground. However the missiles swerved to meet him. Jonas could only watch as the sixteen missiles came to meet him. Half of the missiles shot over his head impacting the building behind him, blowing it to pieces. The other half caught Silent Howl directly on its centre. The explosions almost ripped his Primal Armour apart, leaving the Kojima Particles almost without substance. Jonas grunted as he hit the ground hard; worrying about the multiple explosions made him forget to soften his landing with his boosters causing Silent Howl to land heavily. It was all Jonas could do keep Silent Howl from stumbling.

Jonas steadied his Next and saw the Mysterious enemy in front of him at the end of an alley. Jonas was completely boxed in, the only way out was through the opponent or up. The Next raised its two rifles and peppered him with bullets, tearing through whatever was left of his Primal Armour. The Next followed up by lowering one of its rifles and switching to a missile launcher that was mounted on one of the long wings, always keeping the pressure on with the other rifle. It fired a missile straight for the Silent Howl. He was in a bad way, his Next was being riddled with bullets, punching small holes all over the frame, and he had no Primal Armour; the Kojima Particles fluttering around him like fireflies. He was as defenceless as a new born puppy. Jonas began to feel the panic, he was outclassed in every way, and fear was being instilled in him. A missile was hurtling towards him and there was no escape from the alley of death. Warning lights flared all around his Next's cockpit alerting him to all the damage he was accumulating, bathing the small coffin in a dark crimson. He tried to get Silent Howl to shield itself as best as he could. There was only one way out of this dire situation and that was to go up. Jessie screamed to him over the comms.

"Jonas! Get out of there… Please!"

He gritted his teeth, flaring up his Next's boosters, he took off with all the might it could muster, hoping that he could dodge the missile, if he could just dodge the missile, he could recover with his allies and counterattack. But if it hit, there would be no recovering at all, ever. Bullets still popping all over the Next's armour, Jonas watched the missile intently as it curved slightly to meet him. Jonas' was in a state of horror at the realisation that he wasn't going to dodge it. He wasn't taking off fast enough to gain enough height. Jonas was shaking all over; he saw his own death approaching and he was scared of it. The missile drew closer, closer, closer still until…

It hit…

The missile hit the waist of Silent Howl causing it to be sent flying backwards by the impact explosion. Jonas screamed as he went down. His Next's left leg was blown clean off sending it flying through the air with smaller fragments trailing behind it. Silent Howl twisted to the side as it fell backwards from the sky, causing to crash into the building behind it. The building completely gave way as it tore through it like it was made of paper. The impact of crashing into the building threw Jonas to the side making him slam his arm on the side of the cockpit. The jolt of searing pain made him howl in agony.

Finally Silent Howl came to a stop as a crumbled heap in the side of a building. Jonas lay in the cockpit seat in a similar manner clutching his arm that he had smashed against the side. Jonas could hear Jessie over the comms, surprisingly intact after the explosion but a bit garbled. She was hysterical, screaming at him to be alright, but he droned it out by the feeling of his own pain and fear. He opened one of his eyes at the monitor, it was filled with static but what he did manage to see was the White Next still standing there like it was taunting him, or maybe it was going to see if he was truly dead. Jonas' own sense of fear convinced him that it was going to finish the job. One more missile and the rest of Silent Howl would be blown apart. He would be killed in only the time it would take for the missile to get from that Next to his. Thus he closed his eyes and waited for the finishing blow to come. He waited and waited some more… But the blow never came. He reopened the same eye to find the Next was gone. It had completely disappeared again, only to be replaced with the Linebreaker and Lockheart skimming around the corner into the alley to see him. The comms within Silent Howl crackled.

"Jonas we're here to back you up… Holy Shit man, what happened to you? Where'd the Next go?!" Jonas grinned at Takaru's voice, he wasn't sure why. He just did. Seth shouted at him over the comms.

"Jonas! Speak to us; you're not dead are you? Speak to us dammit!" It occurred to Jonas that since the fall, he hadn't said a word, Jessie probably thought he was dead and the other three were probably getting the same thought is well. Jonas reached out with his good arm to the control panel of the cockpit opening a channel to both Jessie and the other three Lynx.

"I'm… I'm alright, sort of. Howl's a wreck though and I think I broke my arm in the fall." A cacophony of voices flooded his cockpit, however the static generated by the broken Next garbled them all, just turning it to undecipherable noise. Jonas winced at the immediate barrage on his ears. When the voices died down he could make out Seth's among them.

"Where'd the Enemy Next go?"

"I don't know. He disappeared straight after he totalled me." Jonas muttered. Seth swore when he heard this. With Silent Howl wrecked and Embrace badly damaged. The team was down from full strength to half. Seth muttered something that no-one heard.

"Okay, this is how it is. This is one nasty son of a Bitch. If we don't get him now, we'll fail this mission. Takaru, I want you to come with me to find the Next. Ellysia, stick with Jonas once you get here." Seth's orders were interrupted by an explosion at the opposite end of the complex; it was twice the size of anything they had seen yet. The explosion engulfed a large portion of the south quarter which was followed by a blackout of the entire base. Any and all lights dotted around the base shut off.

"Oh my God, the explosion has just ripped apart the whole southern quarter. That Next got the main power distributors for the base, it's all gone dark." Jessie informed.

"Control has just informed me that power to this region of the country has blacked out. They're using their back-up power to chat with me. Power to the Arteria quarter is down 50% is well." Seth voice was grim as he voice his next sentence slowly, "We… Failed."

"I can confirm what Seth has said Jonas; power has indeed been lost to the whole region. I'm sorry." Jonas bashed his good hand on the console in shouted in anger, he winced has his arm protested at the sudden movement.

"I can't believe it… We failed our mission to protect this God forsaken place. There were four of us and even then, we didn't manage it." Seth was sullen as he lamented over the most important job they had.

But Jonas could only think as he slumped there in his seat. What was that white Next; that Next that kept disappearing like a ghost. Only to appear in the corner of your eyes like a glint. A glint of white light…

A White Glint.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16 – The aftermath

Four hours had passed since the battle for the energy plant and the whole team was exhausted. The strain of using their AMS capability to pilot their Nexts for so long plus the stress brought on by the result of the battle put everyone at breaking point. Jonas looked out towards the League of Ruling Company's energy plant a couple of miles away, which had huge pillars of smoke rising from the wound the White Next had inflicted.

After the explosion that engulfed the whole Western Quarter of the plant, the White Next had disappeared again. Not just from the base but the entire battlefield completely. Jessie had told Jonas over the comms about how she saw a Next leave the scene on the satellite image. Not long afterwards, a cleanup operation went underway and a small camp was set up a few miles away from the plant to be out of range of the Kojima radiation brought about from the Next's Primal Armour. After the Linebreaker who lost an arm, Lockheart and Embrace who had suffered significant damage to its boosters and vital systems, had been disinfected, they were moved to the camp where they would be loaded onto the dropships and flown home along with their Lynx. For Silent howl, it was another story. The damage put it almost beyond repair. The missile impact tore off its leg and had taken a chunk out of the lower side of the torso. The rest of the body showed bullets holes, scorch marks and blast damage. A dropship had to airlift Silent Howl from the rubble of the building it landed on. Once it had been disinfected. Engineers went about the task of cutting a hole in Silent Howl's back so they could wrench out Jonas from inside its shell. The Lynx himself was not without damage as he had broken his forearm in the fall. Once out, the medics went about treating him, putting his arm in a splint and a sling for the time being.

At the present, The Linebreaker and Lockheart had been loaded onto their dropship. The Linebreaker had lost an arm in one of the skirmishes so that had been loaded on is well where it would be reattached later. Embrace was going through some last checks before being loaded on to. Jonas stood at the edge of the camp where he shifted his attention to the team. Seth was busy co-ordinating the efforts and was otherwise venting his anger by shouting at people. Takaru was sitting on a crate who seemed to be unaffected by everything that had happened the past day. And Ellysia was to Jonas' own surprise walking towards him. When their eyes met, he broke the connection and turned slightly to look at Silent Howl's battered corpse which was being pulled up on ropes into the belly of the large Dropship, a pang of regret hit him as Ellysia placed her hand on his shoulder.

"You ok? You haven't said a word since we dragged you out." Jonas glanced her way giving her a very tired look that just spoke the words 'leave me alone'. Her response was the look of a very concerned friend. He looked back towards his Next.

"This is my fault; it's my fault this happened to her. If I had been a better pilot, this wouldn't have happened." His face turned to one of sadness, a sadness that could only be matched by a parent losing a child.

"It was no-one's fault; we didn't know a Lynx of that skill would enter the battle." She lightly grabbed Jonas' shoulders and spun him around to face towards her, forcing him to look into her own eyes. "You had no idea this was going to happen, none of us did." She let go of his shoulders in which he instantly turned away from her gaze.

"They'll never fix her. She's as good as gone. She's been with me through so much and now she's nothing but a wreck; all because I couldn't save her." Jonas' body motion told Ellysia that he was slipping into a depressive state; she acted without thinking, lightly tugging his face so that it faced her. After staring into his eyes for a couple of seconds, she dragged him into a tight embrace, careful not to press against his broken arm to hard. Jonas' eyes widened, Ellysia hardly ever showed this much compassion for anybody. But nevertheless, Jonas appreciated the sentiment. After a long pause, she broke the hug and whispered to him,

"Everything will be fine; we'll get him next time." After giving him a reassuring smile, she strolled away heading to where Seth stood, who was watching the two curiously. After watching Ellysia walk away, Jonas turned to the dropship again. The bottom bay doors had closed now that Silent Howl had been safely dragged inside. It was now descending to the ground where the loading bay doors would open and the rest of the Next's remains would be loaded into it. As Jonas watched on, he whispered to the wind;

"Next time you and me meet him, we'll be ready. This won't happen again, 'cause I'll be better."

Ellysia had walked up to Seth who glanced at Jonas in the distance and then back to the girl.

"How's he doing?" His voice was tired and edgy. Ellysia glanced back at Jonas.

"Hmmm, he'll be ok, it's a good thing he doesn't have much of an ego or it would have been torn to shreds right now. He's taking this really hard, but he'll manage."

"Good, then if he'll manage, he can help us with cleaning up this failure of a mission, quicker we get back home, quicker we can lick our wounds." Ellysia spun her head round and glared at Seth.

"I think; we should just leave him alone for now." Her comment was more of a demand than a statement, and Seth realised this, in which he just turned away and walked on, grumbling as he went. Ellysia gave a prolonged sigh as she continued on to what she wanted to do. She headed over to Takaru who was still sitting on the crate, of which contained some of her equipment. Takaru looked at her as she approached.

"I saw you with Jonas over there." His voice was completely neutral and devoid of any of his usual sarcasm.

"And what of it?" She responded, making it sound more threatening that she meant. Takaru let the comment slide as he watched her crouch down beside the crate to gather some things.

"You know, they say that whenever a Lynx establishes an AMS link with his Next, they also link their emotions up to the machine, makes the two of them just as close as a mother and child, or as close as siblings. Apparently, it's a side effect of the AMS system." This response suddenly made Ellysia stop and rise to meet his glance; she turned around and leaned her back against the box.

"Yeah, I know. To lose Silent Howl; for him, it's like losing a daughter. I feel slightly regretful for having Embrace damaged like she was, but I know she'll be repaired but for Howl. It's a complete write off. I mean, I know the engineers are collecting the bits Howl left behind but I doubt they'll be able to fix her."

"He'll have to buy new parts to rebuild her."

"But that doesn't erase the fact that to us, a Next is more than just parts. To Jonas, he just let something close to him get badly hurt because he believes he's not good enough to protect her."

"Do you think he's not good enough?"

"Oh, he's good enough, but our opponent was out of our league by miles. When he attacked me, even I didn't get a shot off. He was just too fast."

"I wonder where he came from."

"I wonder that to." With that said Ellysia returned to her crouching spot, picked up her things and moved towards her dropship leaving Takaru there. For a reason she could only comprehend as sympathy, she couldn't keep her eyes off of Jonas. He didn't notice her watching him but she still watched as she walked. It was a strange sight; the sun was setting on the horizon right behind him bathing him in orange light. She thought it could have represented that a part of him had set and something new within him would rise like the sun. She quickly shook her head and figured she was thinking too much into it.

"You'll be just fine Jonas."


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: And then they revealed themselves…

Panic…

Fear…

Horror…

Pain…

These feelings bombarded Jonas' consciousness as the missile hurtled towards him at supersonic speed. He looked around for a way out but then suddenly, another feeling emerged.

Hopelessness…

The white Next in front of him taunted him with its array of little blue lights that made up its eyes; watching him constantly. He felt that his demise was coming but finally, hope appeared in the form of the sky; that open expanse of air that offered infinite freedom for the evils and suffering that inhabited the surface world. It would be there that Jonas might have been able to escape out of the alley of death he had got himself trapped in. To the left of him were buildings, to the right, more buildings. In front of him was the white Next who was continuing to taunt him, with its relentless blue eyes. The only place that offered freedom was the sky, so Jonas reached out to grab that freedom that was being tantalisingly dangled in front of his face. Silent Howl's boosters flared as they tried to propel the Next into the sky. Closer and closer he got, hand extended. But the missile was trying to deny him that freedom, racing to intercept his efforts of taking what he needed the most.

The missile got closer and closer and a millisecond before it hit him…

He woke up.

His eyes were wide open as he lay there caked in sweat. He propped himself up, careful not to hurt his broken arm which had been encased in a plaster cast. His breathing was irregular and heavy which was the classic symptom of a nightmare. Spinning himself round, he stood up and for the sake of making sure he was actually okay, he patted his free hand over his body. First his thighs, where he felt the boxer shorts he went to sleep in, then his torso which was bare, just like every other night he slept. He checked the bed, which was a mess; half of the cover lay on the floor and other half were desperately trying to cling to the mattress to keep itself up.

This was the fourth consecutive night that the nightmare had occurred. Due to this, Jonas decided that there was no way he'd be able to sleep again tonight so he checked the clock which read half past five. An anguished and tired groan escaped him as he shuffled towards the light switch, manoeuvring himself through the dark until he flicked it, illuminating the room in light. The sudden burst of brightness blinded him slightly, causing his good arm to shield his eyes until they grew accustomed to it. He walked over the en-suite wash room where the sink resided. After running the tap, he awkwardly splashed cold water onto his face. Whilst drying himself on the towel, he stared at his reflection in the mirror for the better part of a minute. After which he walked out of the washroom and back into the bedroom.

There was a brief tap at the door and before Jonas could say a word, it began to inch open. A head peeked through the gap which revealed itself to be Seth. He took one look at Jonas' half naked body before turning away, surprised.

"Ah, sorry! I didn't realise you we're undressed, I shouldn't have barged in. I wasn't thinking." It was obvious that Seth looked a bit flustered at the sudden sight, but Jonas' tired mind didn't care that he had nothing but boxer shorts on.

"Eh… It's fine. What do you want?" Jonas muttered before yawning.

"I've been taking a walk around the base; the stress of everything is keeping me awake. I just seen your flick on from outside and thought I'd drop by." Seth kept eye contact away from Jonas, never looking at him directly. "How's your arm?"

"It's aching but otherwise fine." His voice was slightly monotonous.

"That's good to hear; well I'm off for another walk before I sort out these rumours about us that keep hitting the net." Seth looked Jonas eye to eye. Giving a brief wave, he disappeared behind the crack between the door and the frame he stuck his head through, the door shut quickly afterwards. Jonas let loose another yawn and thought nothing of Seth's abrupt visit.

He collected his clothes off a nearby chair, which as usual were neatly folded up and got changed. Being cooped up in his room offered no benefits what-so-ever, so he thought that a walk to the surface would be a good idea. The fresh air would do him good.

Nearly a week had passed since that fateful day at the power plant and things haven't gone well for the team at S.H.E.L.L central. Rumours have started to spread about the team's incompetence in the field which Seth was desperately trying to quieten down. However these weren't the only rumours hitting his ears. Apparently, the mission they accepted wasn't the only mission undertaken with the same goal in mind. Several Lynx had been hired or ordered to defend power plants that were believed to be the subject of what people across the globe thought to be terrorist attacks by an unknown organisation. Half of these missions were failures which resulted in widespread blackouts across many parts of the world. But strangely enough, no Arteria facilities were targeted. This was strange, if these attackers were terrorists like people thought, the most important thing would be the kill count, and if the Arteria facilities were destroyed then millions would die as the Cradles would come crashing to Earth. Because of this, many people refuted these rumours but whoever these attackers were, they had an agenda and they had doubtlessly caused havoc on a planet-wide scale.

Unfortunately, once rumours of their failure reached the world, the mission offers for the team dried up. Since that day, there had been no jobs from anyone. And repairs to the Nexts are costly, because of this; repairs to the Silent Howl had been put on hold, effectively removing Jonas from the roster. If a mission did come up, Jonas would have no chance of participating. He couldn't help but wonder when his luck would change. Every day, he would go to Silent Howl and stare at his beloved Next. He would even try fixing it with his free arm but his efforts always proved futile, since the damage was so great and his arm was busted.

Jonas decided as he walked through the confines of the base that before he'd head for the surface, he would drop into the infirmary. Jonas had visited this place more frequently since he had returned back from the failed mission. He had hardly visited that place except from when he first made it into the team. At the beginning, he had to get the once-over check-up so he could be admitted into the base. If Jonas had a contagious disease, it could have proven fatal to everyone with the confines of the facility. But it was there that he got his arm put in a cast.

As he walked, it occurred to him that it was getting close to six in the morning so the physician might not be around and it was her he wanted to speak to. For some reason he found the physician to be easy to talk to; which made her the first person to know about Jonas' recurring nightmare. He reached the double doors of the infirmary. The doors were big and grey; they were obviously designed to be a medical ward back when the base was first designed. Jonas was surprised however to see that the lights were on through the windows embedded in the doors. He eased the door open and poked his head in. The first thing Jonas noticed was that the infirmary was entirely empty of any patients and all the beds were clean and made.

"Miranda? Are you here?" Jonas stepped in through the doors, letting it close behind him; he looked around and saw a woman sitting at a desk at the far end of the infirmary. He walked towards her, as he did; she turned her head around to see his approach. Jonas saw that she wasn't any different than the last time he saw her. Miranda had long brown hair and wore glasses that had deep blue rims. She wore a plan brown shirt that was tucked into a black skirt that dropped to her knees. Jonas always thought that there was a certain professional elegance about and her and while he would never ask for her age, Jonas guessed she was in her early thirties and the most.

"Huh? Jonas, isn't this a surprise this early in the morning. What can I do you for you?" Jonas kept walking towards her, looking for a place to sit down, in the end he settled for the corner of an empty bed a couple of feet away from the desk she was working at.

"I… Had that nightmare again." He looked down at his feet and got straight to the point, Jonas' tiredness didn't let for any small talk. Miranda adjusted her glasses.

"Really?" Miranda's face was etched with concern. "Did you take any of the sleeping tablets I gave you?"

"I took one but it didn't work… If it did, I wouldn't be here." After hearing this, Miranda spun her chair around to fully face him. She put one leg over her knee and resting her elbow on it, plopping her head into her open hand.

"Hmm. Okay Jonas, here's what I'll do. I'll up the dosage to two before sleep. I don't want to have to raise it to three because those tablets are powerful." Jonas head rose and quickly nodded. "Is it the same nightmare? I mean, is it exactly the same in every detail?"

"It is; I'm stuck in the alleyway with the white Next shooting me. When I try to escape by flying away, the missile hits me. But I wake up before it actually hits Silent Howl."

"I see, and how's your arm?" Jonas rubbed his cast lightly.

"It's fine, it's gets itchy every now and then but it doesn't cause too much trouble. Just as long as I don't try to fix my Next."

"And did you try to work on him yesterday?" After hearing this, Jonas looked back down to his feet again.

"I did…" Miranda let out a hefty sigh that hit Jonas a little harder than it should have.

"I told you not to Jonas! If you strain your arm, you'll make it worse. Your arm will take a while to heal because of the nature of the break." Suddenly, Jonas felt very meek.

"I know." He responded as Miranda adjusted her glasses again.

"Well anyway, I'm more worried about these dreams. The human body can fixed but the human mind is a lot harder to mend. So if they persist after 4 days. Come back to me okay." Jonas looked up to Miranda's face and let out a weak, tired smile.

"I will… And thanks." With this, Jonas got up and walked back towards the door, he waved back to Miranda before he exited, Miranda sat there and smiled sweetly back at him.

Outside, Jonas let out a sigh and headed towards the direction of the hanger, where the elevator to the surface was located. He secretly hoped the walk would be uneventful, which considering the time of morning, was entirely possible.

As he walked through the base, he found it to be quiet and eerily empty; in the fifteen minute walk it took him to get to the hanger bay, he saw only two people and in the hanger bay itself, only three people were milling about. Usually, the base was always busy and the hanger itself was always the centre of it all. People would run about getting the Nexts ready for missions and seeing new parts and supplies being brought down the massive freight elevator. But because of the inactivity the people were put under and the uncertainty that the whole team was up against, it was safe to assume that spirits were down.

As Jonas walked through the hanger, he couldn't help but look at Silent Howl on the opposite end. It was held up by two wires that suspended the Next from the ceiling. After the damage report, they surmised that the leg parts were unfixable and that trying was a waste of time and effort, so they removed the legs part completely. This effectively made Silent Howl a floating body with arms and a head. The torso was the cause of much debate. While some of the internal systems were damaged like the generator and boosters, they were fixed with no problems. The main point was that the torso itself was not fixable. A large chunk had been taken out of the side and was debatable if it could be put back together again. The cost of the legs would be high but adding a new main core to the list would make the total cost sky rocket. Seth had told Jonas that they had backup cash stored for when a Next sustained damage of the nature, but until they were sure that they had income to replace what they spent, they could not fix Silent Howl. Otherwise they wouldn't have the money to keep S.H.E.L.L Central operational and the lack of mission requests meant that they were not making any money at all.

Jonas made it to the end of the catwalk and called the elevator to the surface, he had to only wait a few minutes before he was exiting the elevator, only to be greeted by a bright early sunrise. Jonas took a deep breath and felt the clear morning air wash his soul. He suddenly felt much more peaceful. He looked around at the surrounding area; there was the runway and the multiple hangers where the dropships were kept. He moved to the side of the elevator and sat down, propping his back against the wall. He looked to the sky to watch the sunrise. Sunrises and sunsets always helped to quieten his mind. He didn't know why but he knew it helped, so he sat there and watched. He was alone, just him and the sky.

And he liked it.

A few hours passed and the sun had fully risen. Ever since Jonas sat down, he hadn't moved an inch. A couple people had emerged from the elevator he was sitting against. They spoke to Jonas and he spoke back but that was the extent of any social interaction people had with him. It had gotten to the point where Jonas was starting to get really hungry, it had only occurred to him that he hadn't eaten any breakfast yet. He stood up and proceeded to head back into the facility. He exited the elevator and stepped out onto the catwalk. The base had gotten busier, since there were a few more people wandering around doing their jobs. Jonas walked straight through the hanger and into the intricate array of corridors that criss-crossed the entirety of the base. He decided to go the bar that had opened up before the mission began, during the unveiling of their new identity. A couple of days ago, it was revealed that they would be serving food as well as drinks, because of this, the place attracted just about everyone in the base.

As he turned the corner, he walked right into Takaru, almost crashing into him. Takaru looked almost stunned by the sudden meeting.

"Ahh, Jones! It's just you. Where're you going?"

"To get some food. You?"

"The hanger, need to talk to one of the engineers about LockHeart."

"Cool, see you later then."

"Toodles Jones." With that, they both passed each other and continued on their way. As Jonas continued down the passage ways he saw Jessie ahead come into view from the intersection. She looked around and when she saw him, ran towards him energetically.

"Jonas!" He stopped walking as she approached him.

"Hey Jessie, what's up?" He smiled as she stopped in front of him.

"I was looking for you actually." Jonas looked curious.

"For me?"

"Yeah, I was wondering if you wanted to grab some breakfast with me."

"Sure, I was heading for the bar anyway. I've been awake for ages, I'm quite hungry."

"Wait, when did you wake up?"

"Half five."

"You had that nightmare again, didn't you?" Her faced suddenly changed instantly into one of worry, she knew exactly what the answer would be. Jonas just nodded without uttering a word. "I'm sorry." She turned away from his gaze.

"It's okay, nothing for you to worry about. Come on, let's get breakfast." She glanced back up into his eyes.

"Alright then." They both started engaging in small talk as they made their way to the bar.

The walk to the bar took just under five minutes; they walked in and found it to be packed with people. However, the two of them saw two empty seats next to each other at the bar. As they walked towards them, they were greeted by a familiar face occupying the seat next to the free ones. Jessie was the first to speak.

"Ellysia? Fancy meeting you here." Ellysia turned her head to meet them.

"Jonas, Jessie. Good morning." She said with a smile. In front of her was a plate with a half eaten bacon sandwich and a glass of water. Jonas sat on the bar stool next to Ellysia while Jessie sat on the one on the other side of him. Looking around, he saw a television sat on a shelf; he reckoned that this must have been added last night. While the news was definitely company propaganda, it made some background noise to give some atmosphere during the quieter times. Besides, company propaganda was the only thing on television, so it was that or nothing. A bartender walked up to the two new additions to his bar.

"What would you two like?" Jessie and Jonas looked at each other, both trying to read the other, in the end Jessie just nodded. Jonas looked towards the bartender.

"Two of what she's got." He said, pointing at Ellysia.

"Two bacon rolls coming up." And with that, he disappeared through a door. Jonas looked towards Ellysia who was contently chewing on another bite of her sandwich.

"So how is Embrace?" He watched as Ellysia swallowed her bite and replied.

"She's all fixed and good as new. What about Silent Howl?" Hearing this, his mood sank slightly.

"There's been no change. No progress has been made since a couple of days ago." Upon hearing this, Ellysia's mood sank a little too. Jessie spoke up to lighten to situation.

"Give it time; once the jobs roll back in and money is made, we can get the parts to fix him." The reassuring words helped to lighten to mood.

"Yeah, things will be back to normal soon enough." With this, the bartender returned with the two bacon sandwiches.

"Here you go guys. That'll be 2 Credits each. We'd usually not make you pay but we're going to scrape money together, it all helps." Both Jessie and Jonas nodded as they fumbled around in their pockets for any change they would have, they presented the right amount and the bartender took the money and nodded, disappearing out the back again. After their return from the mission, Seth had implemented his money saving schemes. Usually a Lynx's pay was his own for ammo and parts, and the upkeep for the base included necessities, but now, the Lynx's own pay was being used for trivial matters as well.

The two of them chewed contently on the sandwiches. Jonas looked up towards the television and watched. There wasn't much going on, just some news report about a small uprising in a colony in America. It was quickly eradicated and all is peaceful again, or so they say, Jonas and many other mercenaries out there learnt to always take the news reports with a pinch of salt. A nudge on him arm from Ellysia's side roused him.

"What're you doing today then Jonas?" Jonas actually couldn't answer Ellysia's question quickly enough. He put his finger to his lips and looked up, deep in thought.

"I dunno. With my arm, I can't do much."

"Wanna help me with my training? See where my weaknesses lie?" It had occurred to Jonas that ever since that mission at the power plant, Ellysia has been a lot more attentive to him. She was more willing to talk to him and ask him questions. And the fact that she hugged him more when she thought he needed it also displayed her radical change of view towards him. She seemed to actually care about him more. Of course, to him, the thought of her liking him was quickly disregarded due to the fact that she was Seth's girlfriend.

"Sure, I'm up for it." He quickly turned to Jessie who was listening intently to the conversation. "You'll help me out, right. You're better at tactics than I am." Jessie nodded excitedly.

"You bet." After that was said, a yell came up from behind them.

"Hey! Turn the television up. Something is happening." Most people in the bar turned their focus towards the TV, some people got up to get a closer look. The three of them had a perfect view of the television from where they sat. The bartender did as he was asked; he approached the television and turned it up to volume to drown out the crowd.

The news program on the television was blurring, being quickly displayed with another image and then back to the news program. This happened numerous times before the new image took precedence over the old. A man stood in front of a blank screen and was completely blacked out; meaning none of his features could be seen. From the silhouette though, he looked like a man in formal attire. There was silence until the man spoke, as he began to speak however, the screen behind him changed to reveal what Jonas thought to be a company logo.

"We are Line Ark. We are a newly formed city state. We have been secretly building up our infrastructure to become the largest surface based power on the planet. We oppose the League of Ruling Companies and all that they stand for. The cradle system is a farce; meant for the rich and powerful to rule over us surface dwellers from their sky high thrones. This has to end now! We must give power to the people who live on the planet surface and not the lapdogs of the elitist parasites in the cradles. The average man must have a say in what takes place on this planet, not be confined to the colonies that they have imposed on us for so long now. Democracy must rule on this planet for us to survive."

The whole bar was silent; however Ellysia was furious at what she heard. For them to call the people in the cradles 'elitist parasites' meant for them to insult her family who lived up in the clouds. Jonas glanced at her, her teeth and fists were clenched to the point where her knuckles were white. Though he thought that this Line Ark organization had a point, but he didn't openly express this view. He looked back at the television screen as the spokesman continued on with his speech.

"At this current moment, rumours have been going around of high profile attacks against League power station across the world. We take full responsibility of this; we did it not to hurt innocent civilians, which is why we left the Arteria facilities alone. But you must understand, the power outages that so many people are witnessing, is proof that the League is weak and not to be trusted."

Upon hearing this, Jonas' intuition flared up. He had a bad inkling that he knew what was coming, and this caused his stomach to cramp. Intuitively, he gulped and continued watching.

"For now we wish to begin negotiations with the League to bring democracy to the planet. For those of you that do not believe or strength or our cause, we would like to show you our most powerful weapon at our disposal."

The spokesman stood up and moved to the side to allow the viewers a better view of the screen behind him. Jonas shook nervously which Jessie noticed. She asked him if he was okay but he said nothing.

"Our most powerful weapon is our Next." Suddenly the screen changed to show a white Next. The same white Next that appeared at the power station they were sent to. "This Next is called White Glint. It IS one of the most powerful Nexts on the planet, single headedly fighting four Nexts simultaneously and coming out victorious. If we are opposed, this Next will be our weapon of justice against you."

Suddenly from nowhere, the entirety of Jonas' encounter with White Glint flashed before his eyes, the images were fast and hugely overpowering. Jonas' mental state was quickly being wrecked as he replayed every feeling, every emotion and every fear in his head. He threw his head into his hands, like he was trying to hold the images back, his eyes wide open, darting everywhere. Jessie saw this and immediately threw her arms around him in order to give him some comfort.

"Jonas! Jonas! What's the matter, are you okay? Jonas!" Ellysia turned away from the television to see Jonas' state. She placed a reassuring hand on his back and rubbed it gently.

"Come on Jonas, keep it together." Ellysia quickly looked back to the television screen where the spokesman was finishing up his speech.

"We are Line Ark, and we exist to bring democracy to the world and bring an end to the tyrannical rule of the League. We will allow all to enter our cause. If you wish to help us, then feel to join our ranks. We will accept all that wish to enter."

With this, the screen went back to the original news program where the news reader desperately apologised for what happened and urged people to disregard what they saw. But Ellysia and Jessie's attention was squarely on Jonas who was believed to be having a panic attack.

"Jonas, speak to me, please!" Jessie's voice was frantic and distressed. But only two words escaped from his lips behind the cage he formed with his hands.

"White… Glint…"


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18: A divide of opinions

It had been half an hour since Line Ark made its debut on the television and all four Lynx were standing in Seth's office. Since the broadcast by the new city state, the media had been trying to downplay what the entire world had just seen, but the entire world knew what they saw. The League had gained a powerful opponent, and they had already made their move.

After seeing the broadcast, Seth had called everybody to his office to discuss what had just transpired. They all had their own views on what they saw and this was reflected in their demeanours. Jonas was still visibly shaken after the memory of his near-death experience was triggered and Jessie was still visibly worried sick about him. She insisted on standing by his side during the meeting and was clutching onto his arm for support, both for him and for herself too. Ellysia however, was furious about what she saw. To oppose the League meant to oppose the cradle system which in turn, meant opposing the safety of her family who lived up there. Takaru on the other hand, looked completely unfazed by everything. This was proven by the fact he was casually leaning against the wall with his 'I don't care' look. And Seth looked deep in thought like he wasn't sure how he himself felt.

Everybody was standing up as Seth casually sat on the edge of his desk; he glanced at each person, reading their faces getting a grasp on everyone's situation.

"Okay, so we all saw the broadcast?" In turn, everybody nodded; silence descended upon the room like a veil. Seth looked at his feet, trying to think of something to say. "What're your views on it?" He looked at everyone, pretty sure he already knew each individuals answer. Takaru shifted his position against the wall slightly and sighed.

"What views? Why are we caring about this? So what? The League has an enemy, like it doesn't have enough already. It just means more work for us, and considering how little work we've had lately, we should be happy." Ellysia folded her arms and gave him a stern look.

"This isn't just some little terrorist group or rebel faction. This is a city state we're talking about. They'll have power and the military to back it up and well as the funds." Takaru considered this rebuttal a challenge and stood up straight.

"And…? The League has the world to back it up. How much power do they have huh? I reckon the power of one corporation could wipe them out, let alone every corporation that makes it up." Ellysia opened her mouth to speak but Seth cut in before the bloodbath could begin.

"Alright, quit it. It's not their power or military I'm worried about, it was their message." Everyone in the room gave Seth a quizzical look. "Hear me out. This faction or state or whatever, had the ability to hijack the television to broadcast their own message. And considering the League propaganda channel is the only channel, the whole world would have seen it. And, they publicly invited members. I think with that stunt alone; they'll drum themselves up a lot of support." Everyone looked at one another, puzzled, before Jonas turned to Seth and queried,

"So, what does this mean then?" Seth clasped his hands together on him lap.

"Personally, I think it means that the time to pick a side is rapidly approaching. If a war between the League and Line Ark begins, we'll have to pick a side. And if a war doesn't begin then Line Ark would have succeeded in splintering the world's opinion." Jonas looked Seth straight in the eyes, taking in everything that was said.

"So even if Line Ark were to disappear, they would have managed to split the views of the world. Two distinct factions would be created, the 'Pro-League' and the 'Anti-League'."

"Exactly my point Jonas. That is why Line Ark is a powerful force to be reckoned with. It's the views it has, not its military strength." Takaru took a glance around the room.

"So where do we stand? Which of these two 'factions' are we under?" Silence descended on the room once again whilst everyone pondered their answer. Jonas looked at Jessie and she returned his glance. Both of them just shrugged at each other, not sure what they thought themselves. Seth stood up and made eye contact with everyone in the room, however when his gaze met Ellysia, he shied away with a look that could only say that he was ashamed of himself.

"I support Line Ark." These four words alone threw Ellysia in a fit of rage.

"What?! How could you support them? They want to bring down the cradles, bring down my entire family. How could you say that Seth? You're supposed to be on my side." Those words made Seth wince, he knew this would happen and he didn't want to make her upset. Jonas and Jessie, fearing for their safety inched away from Ellysia, as did Takaru.

"I think it's true what they say, The League has a tyrannical grip on the world, and it needs to end." he said, avoiding eye contact with her.

"Dammit Seth, my family wouldn't even survive on the planet. The cradles are the only place they'll be safe." She opened her mouth several times, not quite sure what to say. In the end she settled on "Dammit to hell!" And she stormed out of the room. The door slammed behind her and once again silence enveloped everyone. Seth held his head low, while everyone else was shocked at what they had just witnessed. Takaru stepped towards Seth.

"Wow boss, you got guts saying that to her face like that, but even I didn't think that she'd explode like that though."

"I knew she'd get angry at me. I probably should have just kept my mouth shut." Seth muttered.

"Don't worry about it, she'll get over it. She just needs time to cool off, that's all." Jonas chimed in. Seth rose up off the desk and perked up slightly.

"I hope you're right. Well, I got nothing else to say so you're free. Go on, shoo." Seth gave a dismissive wave of his hand signalling the other three to leave. Takaru gave a shrug and left for the door, closing it as he left. Jonas was about to leave when Jessie leant towards Seth.

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Who me? I'll be fine. This isn't the first disagreement I've had with her and it won't be the last." Jessie gave a quick nod and followed Jonas out the door. When the room was empty, Seth leant back and threw is head back in thought.

"Power to the people, such a nice thought, but is it possible. If there's a way to escape from this wretched life, I'll make it happen." Seth clenched his fist and got up and walked around the desk to sit down, where he switched on his computer terminal.

After Jonas and Jessie got out of the office they realized that Takaru was already gone. They looked around but couldn't catch any sign of him.

"Damn, he moves fast." Jonas said to himself. Jessie turned to him with concern.

"Are you okay? You know, after everything that's happened." Jonas turned to Jessie and smiled.

"I'm fine, don't worry about it. I'm okay now, really. But umm, after hearing all that, who would you side with, Line Ark or the League?" Jessie looked up for a second before answering.

"I don't know. It hasn't been that long since we heard the speech. I haven't decided and I don't think I'll have to."

"You don't, how come?"

"I don't think a power like the League can be shifted by a 5 minute spot on the television."

"Fair enough then. What worries me the most about Line Ark is White Glint." Just muttering the name of the Next made him shudder slightly. Jessie saw this put her hand on his shoulder, more concern etched onto her face.

"You okay?" Jonas turned and smiled sheepishly.

"Seems just uttering the name shakes me up a little but I'll be okay. I got through the worst back at the bar." Jessie just nodded. "I'm going to Silent Howl and see what I can do with it. I'm going to figure out what replacement parts I want to buy."

"Can I come with you?"

"Sure. I don't mind." And the two of them set out for hanger, a big smile was written over Jessie's face.

In the opposite direction, Takaru was walking towards the bar muttering to himself. His strides were long and confident as normal but something about him was off. He was deep in thought which directly contradicted his 'happy-go-lucky' nature.

"Could the world really be splintered like he said? If Line Ark stands up to the League and holds their own, I could have a shot at taking down Rosenthal and avenge my brother's death. I'd never have had a chance on my own but if I was backed by Line Ark… It could happen." Takaru shook his head violently. "No! Thinking like that would only get me killed." Takaru got to the double doors of the bar and sighed. "I need a drink."

On the other end of the base, Ellysia lay on her bed. Since the outburst in Seth's office she had considerably calmed down. She was thinking more rationally now and one thing kept coming to her mind.

"People must think I'm crazy, shouting at him like that, or obsessed at least. Maybe I am obsessed. But, is it obsession to just want to protect your family? I'm so jealous of them, being high in the clouds. The only safe haven left in this god forsaken world. I have to protect them so that one day, I can meet them again. I'll protect them all from Line Ark." With that she rolled over. "I won't let anyone stop me." She rolled over again and sat on the side of the bed. "But, I should probably say sorry to Seth, I went a little over the top." She got up and set off Seth's office.

Seth was typing away on his computer trying to get an estimate on some Next parts when out of nowhere a blinking light appeared in the corner of his screen. Seeing this startled Seth, he moved the mouse over the flashing icon and clicked it bringing a new screen over the old product listing.

"We've… Been offered a mission?" He saw that the client was once again the League of Ruling Companies. He clicked the mission to get the full requirements of the mission.

"The League wants us to kick Line Ark out of a mining facility hmm? Well as much as I'd hate to fight against the faction who's ideals I think are worth fighting for, it's not like we have a choice. We're running on fumes here." And without hesitation, Seth clicked the 'accept mission' button. Satisfied, Seth leant back in his chair, happy in the knowledge that they finally got some work.

Just as Seth began to lose himself in his thoughts of the upcoming mission, a knock came at the door. Seth shook his head lightly to arouse himself from his daydreaming.

"Yeah? Come on in." The door opened up revealing Ellysia standing there. The moment their eyes met, Seth looked away, his previous good mood instantly evaporated.

"Seth, can we talk?" Before Seth could even answer however, she started to walk into the room and closed the door behind her leaving Seth with only one answer.

"I suppose." Ellysia approached Seth and perched herself on the edge of his desk.

"Listen Seth, I wanted to apologise for my outburst earlier. I got a little carried away." The two of them locked gazes.

"I'm sorry too, I didn't mean to upset you, I knew you'd get angry when I said what I did but I said it anyway." Ellysia shook her head.

"It's okay. I understand that you might not have the same views as me. I mean, you don't have any family left. So you have nothing to tie you down."

"Mm hmm. To be honest, I despise the current system. But I never said anything because there wasn't anyone that could do anything about it but well, I think Line Ark could manage it. With that Next of theirs, I think they could do it. Working for the scraps left by the companies just doesn't suit me." Seth got up and walked round to Ellysia and embraced her tightly "But rest assured that I wouldn't want to hurt you or your family, but there has to be more to life than this." Ellysia pulled away from Seth lightly and looked into his eyes.

"I understand how you feel. My family's safety has always driven me, and to me that means to preserve what we know. But I don't hate you for feeling the way you do. I love you." She reached up and kissed him. Seth pulled away and cupped her cheek with his hand, stroking it with his thumb.

"I love you too."


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Take to the mine

Seth sat in the cockpit of his Next, the Linebreaker waiting for the moment he would be dropped from inside the holding bay of the dropship. He was five minutes away from the mine which looked like a gigantic bowl dug into the earth. Whatever was being mined and its purpose, it wasn't mentioned in the briefing, only that they wanted to use the mine again after he cleared it out. The League was even going as far as to pay him a bonus if he went through the mission without initiating his Primal Armour shielding and irradiating the entire mine. And considering their financial struggles, he planned on giving it a shot. The briefing outlined that only Normals, the Next's smaller, weaker, mass produced cousins would be encountered which against his bulky mech wouldn't pose a real challenge unless they were packing heavy weapons like bazookas or grenade launchers. His mission outline was simple, destroy everything that was Line Ark and inflict as little collateral damage as possible.

Seth double checked all of his systems and was happy with how smooth his Next was running. He double checked Linebreaker's arm as it had been blown off during the last mission. It has been reattached by the engineers and was working fine although he swore there were a couple of kinks that needed ironing out, but he concluded that he was just being picky. Suddenly a call came from his operator.

"You're going to be dropped in one minute. We're dropping you directly into the mine so it's a long way down. As far as our intelligence tells us, the enemies are situated in the mine itself, so they'll be no contact until you reach the bottom. Make sure you fire your thrusters early or you drop like a brick."

"Thanks Selena."

"Also there's a chance we'll lose radio contact when you get inside the mine, so we might be out of contact during the mission."

"Oh… Well, I should be fine, nothing I can't handle."

"Indeed, I'll leave the drop to the pilots and see you soon."

"Okay, bye Selena."

"Seth, this is your pilot speaking, thank you for flying Shell airways, we're dropping you in 3, 2, 1, now!" The bay door under his Next opened up and the coupling holding his Next in place released, sending him into a free fall towards the mine. He screamed and grunted as the mech fell; quickly he flared up his thrusters to slow his decent. They roared to life blasting straight downwards. The Linebreaker slowed but the speed decrease was slower than he would have liked as the mine looked like an angry animal, eager to swallow him up. He passed the ground level and began falling into the mine itself, his speed of decent now being a managable level. He approached the ground and landed with a huge thump jostling Seth in his the seat of the cockpit. He shifted his helmet and moved around in the cockpit seat trying to get comfy.

He saw a small opening big enough to fit a Next and concluded that it was the way in.

"Ok Selena, I'm going in. Get the kettle on, this won't take long."

"Ok Seth, have fun. Send me a postcard." Seth laughed as he move moved the controls that made Linebreaker walk forwards. Slowly but surely, the behemoth trudged into the mine. As he moved, Seth decided what weapon he should use, his bazooka or twin back-mounted Gatling cannons. He went with the bazooka, believing that the Gatling cannons would just as likely rip the mine shreds along with his enemy but the precise round from the bazooka should be enough to wipe out his foe in one shot and not touch the surrounding area. The tunnel he walked through was narrow with no room to manoeuvre, a speedy Next would have trouble fighting down here but the Linebreaker was heavily armoured and designed to take a couple of hits. There was no subtlety in his way of fighting and that was the way he liked it.

As Selena predicted, there was no signal to the outside world but he was confident that he'd be able to pick up short range channels coming from within the mine itself. And his radar was fully functioning as a couple of little red dots appeared further up, to his right. He walked up until he came to a corner turning to the right. He spun to face the corner then dashed into the turning completely taking the two Normals on guard by surprise. He shot one of the foes with his bazooka punching a huge hole in its torso, then fired a second round into the second, obliterating its head and shoulders. As quickly as they saw him, both enemy mechs fell into a crumpled heap on the floor. He walked through the remains as it screeched against the Linebreaker's legs. What he came to was a huge room with a large freight elevator that descended further into the mine.

He walked up to the elevator and realised that it wasn't going to budge. He walked to its edge and made the Linebreaker look down. The elevator shaft went down a steep angle, all he saw was a black abyss staring back at him. Seth gulped lightly and jumped off the edge. He would have to time his thrusters boost carefully. If he boosted too high he would hit the top of the shaft, if he boosted too slow, he would hit the slope and risk falling into a spin and rolling to the bottom.

It took half a minute to fall to the bottom, timing his thrusters boosts carefully he didn't so much a graze either the bottom or the top of the slanted elevator shaft. As soon as he hit the bottom a loud voice screamed at him from every direction.

"There's an enemy Next here. The League sent a Next. All units deploy in defence formation. Don't let him get any closer in," Seth grunted in annoyance at the loudspeakers positioned all around him.

"They know I'm here. Well it's not like this was a stealth mission or anything." Some Normals up ahead zipped around and hid behind anything they could. The Normals then poked out from behind their cover and aimed their weapons at him. "Aww hell, if I'm going to take them out. Might as well do it with style, plus there's too many for a bazooka to handle," Seth flicked a switch on his Next's dashboard which caused the Linebreaker Gatling cannons to unfold over his back.

Seth took a quick glance around, he saw seven Normals poking out from behind their cover, he had no idea how many were hidden elsewhere. All the Normals opened fire on him so he boosted to the side to hide behind a column which didn't quite cover the bulk of his mech. He spun up the cannons and boosted back out, which he then proceeded to fire a huge barrage of bullets. The speed of his cannons far outstripped the machine guns of the Normals. Seth aimed his guns in a wide sweeping motion laying waste to everything in front of him. Even though the Normals peppered him with bullets, his armour kept out the worst of it, but he still took light damage. Seth almost grinned at the futility of their efforts as he took out one enemy after another, never letting go of the trigger. Holes riddled the entire area, the impact of each bullet kicking up large amount of dust to the point where Seth could see nothing but grey through the camera in the Linebreaker's head. However he didn't stop shooting.

He had fired for a full minute before he stopped. The dust flittered around like dull moths, his grin diminishing. As the dust settled, he took in his work. There wasn't any place which wasn't riddled with bullet holes. Any cover that the Normals used was utterly destroyed. Seth laughed at himself.

"Sometimes, you've gotta all out." He did a quick check on his systems, he had suffered light damage and he swore that the kink in his arm had gotten worse, but it wasn't serious. He activated the Linebreaker's boosters propelling his Next and thus himself, forwards. He saw another opening to the left which he steered the Linebreaker towards, his radar was also picking up new targets in that direction, and so he was going the right way. The opening was only slightly bigger than his Next which informed him that the machines used in the part of the mine were much smaller than his behemoth of a mech.

After what seemed like half a minute of travelling he came to another large cavernous room much like the last. The Normals were ready for him this time however and began firing immediately. The Linebreaker quick boosted to the right behind some large machinery out of the line of fire of his assailants. He could hear the patter of bullets hitting the massive machine in front of him. On closer expectation, it looked like the digger was four times the size of his Next and it astounded him how a machine that big was able to fit through the tiny tunnel he travelled from. Looking at his radar he picked out four more enemies. He decided to conserve ammunition this time and switch to his bazooka. He edged out from behind the cover trying to make his Next as small as possible. He locked on and fired the shell from bazooka. It travelled tremendously fast before impacting the cover in front of the Normal who was shooting at him; however the force of the round flung what looked to be a stack of large metal crates backwards onto the enemy, crushing it. The Linebreaker quick boosted to the right and proceeded to circle the opposing enemies; being careful not to collide with any of the crates or machines that littered the area. Every time he locked on to the enemy he fired, one after another, the enemy fell, utterly decimated by the large shell that fired from his bazooka. Seth was glad that the shells weren't explosive or the entire area could have collapsed on top of him by now. Regardless, he wasn't as fast to not suffer any damage, a warning light appeared on his console and he quickly flicked it off. He wasn't being reckless, he just knew that with no Primal Armour, it meant that some damage was inevitable.

Seth admired his work and continued on. He scanned the area for his next route to take and saw that the radar presented new target to his right and he saw another tunnel straight ahead which he sure would lead him to his foes. But he began to edge forwards and voice crackled to life over his radio.

"Lynx of the League. I am Sergant Syren of Line Ark. If you would allow us to, we would like to have a few words with you." Seth sat there in the cockpit completely confused as to why they would want to talk with him. However, his respect for their ideals forced him to respond.

"I'm listening," he said cautiously.

"First off, let us get acquainted, what is your name Lynx?" Though no-one saw, Seth was eyeing the comms more curiously.

"It's Seth, Seth Torbrasko," he edged his Next forwards but didn't so much as touch the booster controls. Thus the lumbering Linebreaker walked forwards towards the tunnel that led to the next section of the mine.

"Ok Seth. Have you heard of us, Line Ark I mean?"

"I have."

"Good then let me ask. What're you views on us?" Seth grew frustrated at the torrent of questions thrown at him.

"This is a trap, I'm not answering," Seth mentally folded his arms like a rebellious child.

"Let us assure you Seth, this isn't a trap. We are indeed from Line Ark and you are here to kill us. And while I won't try to let you do it without a fight, I don't intend to think I can win against a Next." The flattery made Seth grin, he was more powerful than all of them combined and it pleased him when people noticed. Seth lowered his guard.

"I'm just about to enter the tunnel. I'm walking so you got until I enter the next section. Now talk."

"Agreed, I will ask again. Have you heard of us?"

"I have, who didn't see that broadcast?" It was more of a statement than a question.

"That is good; I'll get straight to the point. What do you think of the League?"

"Not much, they're my client. I do the work they hire me to do." Seth could hear Syren chuckle at the other end.

"So you're a mercenary?" Seth sighed and made sure Syren heard it.

"I am. I'm the leader of the S.H.E.L.L Squadron." There was an uneasy pause, Seth guessed that he was surprised at the identity of the group he was a part of.

"I'm really sorry Seth, I had no idea." These words sounded truly regretful. There was no sound that his regret was forced. If it was forced, this man was a truly amazing actor.

"Sorry for what?"

"Sorry for what happened at the power plant, we know what your team is and that White Glint fought you." This statement made Seth's blood boil but the fact that Syren sounded sincere about it kept his rage down.

"And what of it?" He snorted as the Linebreaker turned a corner. He could see the next section. It was farther away then he thought it would be.

"We saw the damage that your friend's Next sustained. Is he well?"

"Jonas? He's alive, if that's what you mean," he said in a flat tone.

"Good to hear. I'll cut to the chase. I'm talking to you because we want you to join us."

"You what?!" His surprised ringed throughout the cockpit.

"We cannot hope to defeat the League as we are. Our White Glint, as good as he is cannot hope to stand against the entire might of the companies. That is why we are recruiting potential Next pilots. We will only survive with your help as well as the other Lynx we hope to recruit." Seth was lost for words.

"I, uhh."

"We don't expect your answer now; we keep our doors open for all potential people to join our cause," Syren's voice grew in pitch, "Which is to take down the league and bring power to the people of this planet, not the people in the Cradles." Seth was about half way to the next section but he listened intently.

"Go on." He muttered.

"We think that this current system is flawed to its core and we wish to replace with a more democratic system. A system ran by the League is tyranny." The words rang in Seth's head as he remembered what he said to Ellysia a couple of days before hand about his hatred of the system ran by the League. "We are not terrorists before you ask; we are a democratic city state. We elected our own rulers and they act as our voice and White Glint is our sword. But as we know, you can never have enough swords. And our one sword isn't enough against the League's many." Seth couldn't believe what he was hearing; he couldn't comprehend the coincidence of him, being a Line Ark sympathiser walking into a mission whose force was ran by a recruitment officer.

"Is your sole purpose here to recruit me then? Is this a trap to lure Lynx in and recruit them?" This question caused Syren to sound almost hurt.

"What? No, we're here to capture a vital resource for Line Ark. I'm trying to recruit you of my own free will, that is how dedicated I am." His voice rose in pitch again as he prepared another speech. "I hate the League and I will bring them down. But I'm not stupid enough to believe I can bring them down on my own. That is why I'm asking you to join us."

Seth walked into the massive section where only three more Normal remained in front of him. The enemies in front of him held their fire. The middle one was dark red and apparently piloted by Syren. It approached the Linebreaker.

"All I ask is that you think about it. I know full well that you have to complete you mission but when you leave here with your money, just think about what I said," Syren's voice grew solemn. "Just consider joined us please." Silence echoed through the area. "Seth, I thank you for listening. A lot of other Lynx would have over boosted in here and taken us out before I uttered a word." Syren's voice thundered suddenly. "And now Lynx! We fight, fight to defend Line Ark!"

With that all three Normals darted away from the Linebreaker and began shooting, snapping Seth out of his stupor. Bullets pinged off his armour, however some had the tenacity to punch straight through his armour plating and damage the internal of his Core.

"Shit! Armour piercing rounds," Seth gunned the boosters and rocketed towards the closest Normal he saw. The Linebreaker slammed into with its shoulder but the power of the booster kept some of the momentum going, he quick boosted several times to add more force and the Linebreaker pushed the laughingly smaller and inferior Normal back at an astonishing pace. It kept going until a wall met them, the weight and speed of the Linebreaker crushed the Normal into oblivion, whilst the Normal itself provided to be a surprisingly good buffer between the wall and the Next. The remaining enemies were shocked by what they saw, the savagery of the attack had left them speechless, but however they kept firing their machine guns. Seth sweated slightly, the armour piercing bullets we're going more damage than he would have liked, the warning lights were telling him so.

The Linebreaker turned to face the remnants, using the shoulder boosters to aid his movement. He aimed his bazooka at the other Normal, making sure not to hit Syren. He was going to leave him to last. Seth kept himself a moving target to reduce their accuracy by circling them as fast as his boosters would let him. Even though the Linebreaker was superbly armoured, the armour piercing round would shred him like paper if he slowed down. He fired the bazooka hitting the Normal on the side blowing its gun arm clean off, bullets spraying everywhere as the arm flew through the air. It landed with a thundering crunch. Seth fired the bazooka again to be sure and hit its waist, the force separating the legs from the torso. Both halves sparked before detonating in a crimson fireball.

The only Normal that was left was the red Normal and the Sergeant that resided within it. He seemed a bit more skilled than the others as he nimbly dashed around the ground, which was surprising considering the Normal's clunky stiff frame. The Normal scored a couple of hits on the Linebreaker as it zipped around the mine, punching more holes in the armour of the Next. Another warning light alerted him to damage to his weapon system, his Gatling guns went offline. Seth cursed to himself and charged head long into the Normal, quick boosting back and forth to the side to avoid the shots. At the last moment when the Linebreaker was almost in front of the inferior red mech, Seth quick boosted forwards to give a huge but quick burst of speed, body slamming the Normal. But as quick as he hit it, the Linebreaker quick boosted to the right and circled around the Normal as it was recovering, Seth saw his opening and took him. He zipped up behind the enemy and aimed his bazooka point blank directly at the back of its torso however, he didn't fired straight away but he kept the finger on the trigger. Seth let of a sigh.

"I'm sorry Syren. I actually respect your ideals so I hate to do this." The returning voice was unshakably confident and full of resolve, even in the face of certain death.

"It is fine. Do what you have to do, as I have done what I needed to do. My only hope is that you will consider my proposal," Seth grew sullen.

"I'm sorry."

"I have no regrets, now do it!"

"I'm sorry!" Seth screamed as he pressed the trigger unloading the shell from the bazooka. The round almost travelled in slow motion as it tore through the armour of the mech he stood behind. The torso was completely decimated as the metal almost seemed to be disintegrated by the force of the shot. In the end however, the only thing that was left was a crumbled heap of now scrap metal.

Seth sat there, his mission complete. It puzzled him however as to why the death of his enemy shook him up, looking at his hands, he noticed that he was trembling slightly. In the few minutes he spoke to Syren, he grew to greatly respect him. To have the conviction to try to recruit the most powerful soldiers on the planet was nothing short of extraordinary. And it was this quality which Seth believed gave his speech importance. Syren put his beliefs before his own safety and this reinforced Seth's own beliefs. He took some deep breaths to steady himself and finished with a long sigh. Turning the Linebreaker he stalked out of the mine the way he came, his mission now over, he had no reason to stay.

"I will fulfil your dying hope; I will consider joining Line Ark to aid people like yourself," he muttered to himself.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20 – The decision of a lifetime

Seth sat in his comfy leather chair in his office spinning slowly in circles. Ever since he came back from the mission at the mine two days ago he had been completely distracted. The League of Ruling Companies paid Seth a tidy sum of money for his job. While they gave him a big bonus because he didn't irradiate the mine with the Primal Armour's Kojima Particles, they deducted a fraction of the bonus due to the collateral damage. Seth wasn't too bothered by this. The cut from the bonus were meagre compared to what he made overall. After the repairs were made to his Next, he would use the remainder of the money repairing Silent Howl. It was a top priority to get the Next moving again and to get the fourth Lynx back into the action. While Jonas' arm was still broken, it was healing quickly and Seth reckoned that the time between the Next being fixed and Jonas' arm healing itself would be short.

But all these facts were insignificant compared to what was on his mind. The captain of the force in the mine; Syren he called himself had tried to recruit Seth into Line Ark. Even though he knew he was going to die, he didn't waver or falter and his conviction was nothing short of remarkable. And Seth respected this in the highest regard. Just before Seth killed Syren, he promised he would consider joining Line Ark. He couldn't help but think that this was a mistake. Seth could just say that a promise to a dead man meant nothing but his conscience had no intention of letting him think that. And so he considered the proposal, it's all he did.

He grabbed his notebook from which he had jotted down the pros and cons of leaving, starting with the pros. Seth considered many reasons for joining the City State. He wanted to change the order of things for the better. Line Ark would give him that chance. And with their money behind him, his Next would be just as good as White Glint's. The thought of the firepower of his Next coupled with White Glint's complexity, performance and style made him grin with eagerness. In short, he believed that joining Line Ark and invoking their ideals on a dead world was what he considered justice against the companies for their years of tyranny, and he'd have the power. There were many other insignificant reasons for joining, some of which were petty but Seth wasn't going to let any reason escape him.

Then he glanced over at the cons and grimaced. The cons, whilst fewer were glaringly powerful. If he joined Line Ark, he would leave all he knew in S.H.E.L.L behind. His comrades and his girlfriend, he would leave them all. And while he believed that they could handle it on their own; he would miss them a huge deal. He decided that if he left, he would take nothing but his Next and a dropship. Everything else would be left to them. He reckoned the only people who might go with him would be Takaru and maybe Jonas. Both of them would need convincing, Jonas more than Takaru. But they might go with him in the end. But Ellysia wouldn't stand for it; she would never join anyone who opposed the Cradle system, even if they meant it no harm. If he left, he was sure she would hate him for it. He also noted that as a member of Line Ark he may have to fight his former comrades. This worried him; he didn't want to fight the people he lived with and loved. The final con was that Line Ark was still establishing its power base, and whilst powerful, the League could still crush it like an ant. There would be some apprehension while he was there, always watching out for the League, but as more people joined, it would get stronger.

Either way, he believed that war would soon be inevitable; another war which would decimate the Earth worse than the Lynx war. He had to pick a side.

Everyone in the complex they called home noticed that something seemed 'off' about him. They all noticed how distracted he was and how he couldn't focus, and how he seemed to regret something. The other three Lynx all asked what had happened on the mission but he just kept saying that nothing out of the ordinary occurred and then waved them off. To everyone, it was almost like Seth hated the confrontations and that he was obviously hiding something, but no-one could squeeze it out of him. They tried to get what they could out of him all of the first day since his return, now the second day had hit and they were more reluctant to try because of previous failures. Only Ellysia had the tenacity to keep trying but even she began to give up. It's like they thought he would get over whatever he encountered and that in a few more days he'd be back to himself. People speculated and there were rumours, but none of them hit the mark. Seth came to the conclusion that it would be best for them to say all they'd like, however the truth should be kept until the right moment.

He got bored of spinning slowly in his chair and began to get a little dizzy so he thought a walk was in order. Rising out of his chair, the rush of blood to his brain made him stumble slightly so he waited for the rush to subside, and then made his way to the surface lift next the gigantic freight elevator. He didn't realize it at first but he was being more cautious that before, taking extra care not to bump into anyone that might start asking questions. The thought of skulking around his own home frustrated him but he didn't want to have to keep working his way out of confrontations and until he was ready to spill the news, it was better that he didn't see anyone at all, at least he thought so.

He made it to the surface elevator without bumping into anyone interesting, he passed a couple of people but they simply nodded or just uttered a word of greeting. The elevator rose up into the wide world, when it got to the top; Seth pulled the gates apart and walked out. The view made him gasp in awe. The sun was just setting over the horizon and he could see it perfectly. Surrounding the lowering orange of the sun was a bloody crimson sky, a few clouds dotted here and there only served to make it look like they tried to futilely repel the blood as it spilled over them. Seth wasn't one for sunsets but this was astonishing for him to see. The dreary world he had gotten used to, always having the grey clouds hang over him was suddenly washed away from his memory as the crimson sky seared his mind. After seeing what he saw, he understood why Jonas liked sunsets so much. He also made him think as to why he never noticed sky like this before, if he had, he didn't remember in the slightest.

He stood there for a while not moving, just watching as the setting sun changed the colour of the sky, settling down his mind. He began to think more clearly, however just when he thought everything was going well; he heard the elevator descend suddenly. He jumped and turned around, startled by the sudden noise. He took a deep breath and took in the prospect that someone would be joining him. He rapidly thought about who it could be. He hoped it wouldn't be Ellysia, the thought of him leaving her to pursue his ideals would make him feel guilty if he saw her. He didn't mind if it was Takaru, he was laid back enough to not want to ask questions. And if it was Jonas, he wasn't so sure how to feel about him. At the bottom, he faintly heard the elevator begin to rise again; whoever was in it was approaching.

The elevator had finished its accent and the gates opened, revealing Jonas complete with his arm in the sling, Seth let out a small sigh. Jonas looked at Seth with a puzzled look.

"Why are you up here Seth?"

"Just watching the sunset." Jonas' puzzlement grew.

"Since when did you like sunsets?"

"Since now, apparently." Jonas heard this and approached him, standing by his side.

"Sunsets are cool." Seth just grunted an affirmative. "But why are you here? You didn't come to watch the sunset like I wanted to? You came for a different reason."

"I just came for some fresh air, jeez." Seth grew irritable. This is exactly what he didn't want, questions.

"I know what's wrong with you, you may not realize it but it's obvious to everyone." Just hearing this sent a jolt through Seth's entire being, raising his sense of worry. He tried his best to keep his composure and settled with a hefty sigh.

"Go on then. Let's hear this obvious reason." Jonas turned to him, and Seth was surprised to see some concern in his expression.

"You're worried about Line Ark. You've been worried about them since the beginning. Everyone knows it. You told us about this choice we would all have to make, which side we'd have to choose. Then you do a mission to fight them, and you come back all reclusive and secretive. You told us you believe in their ideals. I don't know what happened on your mission, but I think that you're actually considering going to them. And the choice between us" Jonas motioned to everything around him "or them, is tearing you apart." Seth stood there wide eyed at the revelation that he already knew what was wrong. He gathered himself with a couple of deep breaths which Jonas took as a sign that he was right.

"Right, so you all know what's wrong with me. What about you Jonas, who have you picked huh?" It was obvious to Jonas that Seth was annoyed at the fact he had been found out and it occurred to him that this question may have been out of spite, all he did was shrug.

"I haven't, I don't need to. I figured that I'm doing fine right here. Any change I want to make to the world will be done my way. Besides, I don't think I could join the same team as the guy that nearly killed me." Jonas clenched his fist tight "And I'll have my payback, if only to face my own fear."

"I suppose that's understandable."

"There's something you must know though. Ellysia knows the reason as to why you are the way you are. We all discussed it." Seth shuddered at the news.

"And?"

"And she doesn't want you to go of course. You can guess why." Seth's head lowered.

"And what about you?"

"I believe that we all have to do what we gotta do. Takaru, thinks the same. I may even respect you more for putting your ideals into action. If you do go though, try not to fight us. I'd hate to have to take you on. We'd decline any mission that has you as a target."

"But White Glint is fair game?" Seth interjected, making Jonas grin.

"White Glint is fair game." Jonas patted Seth on the shoulder, and walked off back towards the elevator. Seth watched him walk off before turning to the now quickly fading sunset. Seth looked back towards the sun which had half disappeared beyond the horizon, now with a better feeling of conviction than ever. To know that at least two of his three comrades had his back, to an extent. Now with a big smile on his face, he decided to just drink in the scenery and let his thoughts drift.

The next day was a slow one at best. The invigoration that swept through the base on account of Seth's mission giving them all work to do had vanished. Now people had gotten back to mulling about trying to keep themselves entertained. Seth had spread the word to the base about him wanting his Next , the Linebreaker completely repainted. While at the time it was a dark green, he wanted all the paint stripped and replaced with a primary light grey coat and a light blue as the secondary colour. No-one quite understood the reason for wanting the colour change but many people in the base were happy to do it as it saved them from a boring day of doing nothing. Luckily, they had some paint about that matched what he wanted, meaning that he planned these colours with what they had available in mind. So everyone loaded the spray guns and got to work.

Seth had also ordered the parts necessary to completely repair Silent Howl. Jonas had personally handpicked the parts he wanted, many being an upgrade on what he previously used. The amount of parts ordered was about half what was needed to build a completely new Next. A new torso and new legs were bought as well as many parts that resided in the core of the Next. A new generator to power the Next and a new Fire-Control-System to control the targeting systems were among these. It would be a couple of days before they arrived.

Seth went around the base, there was a lot of work to do, while he wasn't sure which faction to choose, he wanted to be sure he had all of his loose ends tied just in case he did choose to go with Line Ark. And while he was surer of his reasons for going, the reasons for staying niggled at the back of his mind. He had spoken to all three Lynx earlier that morning, where he tried to indirectly approach the topic of him leaving, being extra careful around Ellysia. The talk with Takaru was easy, whilst he seemed really indifferent, he said that Seth was not pivotal to their survival and they could do just fine without him. This hit his pride slightly but Takaru's confidence made Seth believe that they could function without him all the more. Jonas repeated more of what he said the day before, but added a 'you can always come back' remark that eased Seth. He would always have a home at S.H.E.L.L Central, which he was sure of. However, when Seth presented the idea of them joining him in his possible venture, they both declined.

The talk with Ellysia however, was strained and difficult. She didn't want him to go and she made it plainly obvious. However she didn't shout at him, instead she took a softer approach, which to Seth's annoyance, found that it worked a lot more than her screaming. Her head stayed down, she talked in soft quite tones and Seth swore that he could see a tear at one point but he put it down to a trick of the mind. He told Ellysia that if he left he would return when he had made a positive change to the world. No matter how little, he would return and let his friends and loved ones reap the benefits he had fought for. He assured her that his possible disappearance would no way be permanent. Ellysia responded with a mumble Seth couldn't make out and then she hugged him and walked away, her head hung low. This hurt him more than any argument they had had.

He walked back to the Linebreaker to check on the progress of the new paint scheme and he liked what he saw. The bottom half was now a light grey with deep azure lines and patches on the smaller details. The grey really made the blue stand out. He needed to think, and he needed a mindless task to help him do it. So he walked up to one of the crewmen who turned and smiled.

"Hey Seth, like the work we've done?" Seth gave him a thumbs up.

"It looks awesome, mind if I help? I need a brush."

"Huh? Sure, brushes are over there." The crewmen pointed to a workstation set up on the side of the Linebreaker's foot. Seth nodded and collected a brush and a pot of paint, along with a spray gun. He made his way to the catwalk that ran behind the Nexts where some crewmen were starting on the top half of the Next. As he approached them they all asked if he liked the job, he nodded and extended his thanks. Then he got to work of the back of the Linebreaker's left arm. He loaded the spray gun with paint and begun spraying.

The work took hours to do; it began in the morning and ended in the evening. He stood in front of the Linebreaker, now a bright shade of grey and deep azure. Some black detailing and gold had been added too. The crew who had helped with the work were present as well, all of them taking in their accomplishment. An eerie silence was present, engulfing the room. The slightest noise reverberated across the entire docking bay. Seth thrusted his left arm into the air and shouted, causing the entire work force to jump and cheer. The mashed up echo of each cheer was deafening. When they began to quieten down, Seth turned around to face them.

"Thanks so much guys, I really appreciate your hard work." Everyone replied at the same time with their individual remarks, some said it was fine, some said that it was no problem, others just nodded. Seth once again threw his arm into the air.

"For S.H.E.L.L!" And once again the bay erupted into cheer. When it all died down, the people began to disperse, off to go and do their own things, Seth didn't move however. He stood in front of the Linebreaker and muttered.

"I'm going to miss you all, but once this world is a better place. I'll return. I'll return to live with you in the new world I create." With that said, he turned around and walked off. He trudged through the base looking for the few people he needed to talk to. He walked up a door and knocked. A muffled female voice responded.

"Come in." Seth slid the door open and walked in, closing the door behind him. "Hey Seth, what's up?" Seth looked at the girl much younger than him. She had short ginger and a couple of freckles dotted her face.

"Hey Selina, I have a favour to ask you."

"You know you can ask me anything." Seth smiled at this response.

"Good, I need you to be at the docking hanger at three tomorrow morning. I need you to come alone." Selina eyed him curiously; there was an awkward silence before she nodded slowly. "Thanks Selina." He turned around and left the room. There was one other person to find. He wasn't sure where to find the next person. He had to check the registry on his computer in his office to find the person. After he found out what room he needed he trotted off towards it.

He got to the room and knocked on the door but there was no answer. He knocked again when someone snuck up behind him.

"Seth? What are you doing here?" Seth almost jumped of his skin at the surprise and turned to face the male voice. The man he looked at was older than him, in his early thirties at least.

"Ahh Barry, just the man I was looking for." The man looked at him strangely. "I'll cut to the chase; I require your piloting expertise. I need you to come to the docking bay at 3 'o' clock tomorrow morning. Bring you most trusted co-pilot."

"Umm, okay."

"Thanks Barry." Seth slapped him on the shoulder and walked off leaving a bewildered dropship pilot behind.

There were just a couple of things Seth believed he needed to do next, he walked toward his office and entered, shutting the doors behind him and locking them. He approached his deck, sat down and grabbed some paper and a pen and began writing.

Seth got up from his bed and checked the time on the clock. With just half an hour before he was supposed to be at the docking bay, he had one last trip to make. He picked up his large bag carrying all his worldly possessions and clothes and made of for Ellysia's room. When he got there, he placed the bag on the floor and tested the door handle. It turned and the door gave way, allowing Seth to open it slightly. He pocked his head in through the crack and saw that she was asleep. He entered as quietly as he could, being careful not to make a single sound. He took the letter from his pocket and placed it next to her bed on the small bedside table. He wanted so much to kiss her right now, but he didn't, as he was afraid he would wake her. After taking one more look at the woman he loved, he exited the room, closing it as quietly as he could. An almost silent click emanated from the door as he closed it shut. He left for next destination, taking his bag with him.

Walking through the base, he was surprised to find it so quiet. He didn't pass a single soul on the way to the docking bay, which pleased him immensely. After getting there, he saw Selina who was early. He walked up to her and waved, where she waved in return. A look of confusion was etched all over her face.

"Seth, what's all this about?"

"I'll tell you in a moment. I'm just waiting on one more person." About five more minutes passed while they waited. As they waited, they saw a shadow emerge from one of the corridors. Seth saw Barry walk into the docking bay with a much younger, blonde haired man following him. They walked up to Seth and he saw that the two pilots were clearly annoyed.

"What's all this about Seth. This secrecy isn't good." Seth looked at all three people and took a deep breath.

"Basically, I'm joining Line Ark for a bit and I need you three to come with me." The three companions stood in shock as the news hit them square in the face. Selina shook her head.

"But why Seth, you built all this, why leave it behind you?"

"It's not permanent, but I need to do this. I want to change the world for the better; they can let me do it." The young man accompanying Barry spoke up.

"You're going to Line Ark, that's funny because I want to go there too." Barry glared at the young co-pilot. Seth nodded at the young man.

"I need you all to come with me. I'm only taking my Next and a dropship. All the preparations are set, we just need to load up the Linebreaker and take off." Selina walked up to Seth and placed both hands on his shoulders.

"I can't do this Seth, leaving our home. I just can't do it, I can't follow you. I'm really, really sorry." Seth flung his arms around his operator and hugged her tightly.

"It's okay. I don't mind you staying but I wanted to give you the option. I trust you with my life after all." Tears began to dribble down Selina's cheeks as she began to cry into his chest. "I'll be back real soon, when I have made a better world for all of you." Seth pushed her away as lightly as he could and turned to Barry. "What about you?" The pilot scowled at Seth.

"I'll do it but I don't like it. I won't be able to stop Josh from following you but he's not ready to pilot a dropship on his own yet." Seth nodded.

"Thank you, all of you. Now we best get going before people come to find out what we're up to. I'll jump in the Linebreaker and you two prep the dropship for launch." Seth gave Selina another hug. "And you take care of yourself." She just nodded.

On the other side of the base, Jonas was walking around the base. He was sweating slightly which was always a symptom brought on by his Whit Glint nightmare. The nightmares had become less frequent but they affected him the same as they always did. As he was walking down the hallway to walk off the effects he passed someone he didn't know too well, however this man turned to him."

"Hey Jonas. Do you know what Seth is up to?"

"Uhh no. Why do you ask?"

"He's in the docking bay talking to a couple of people, all secret like."

"Hmm, I don't know anything about it."

"Oh, no worries then." The man walked on passed him as he went about his business leaving Jonas to ponder the conversation for a couple of seconds. Then a notion hit him and he ran off in the direction of the docking bay. As he was on the other side of the underground base, it would take him five minutes to get there.

He ran, perspiration glistening on his face, and with only one hand for balance, he made doubly sure of his footing which slowed him down. It occurred to Jonas that there were only two reasons for a secret meeting. Either he was preparing to leave or it was already happening.

He saw it, the last stretch of corridor before the docking bay. He picked up the pace and sprinted towards the end. When he made it into the docking bay he saw nothing. As he looked around he saw a big empty space where the Linebreaker used to stand, Jonas swore under his breath and ran towards the lift the rose up beside the freight elevator. He wasted no time jumping in when it opened.

Jonas tapped his foot impatiently as the lift ascended. As he got higher he could hear jet engine sounds emanating from above him causing him to tap his foot faster.

Finally, he made it to the top; he swung the gates aside with his free hand and jumped out of the lift. Looking around he saw a dropship taking off at the end of the runway. He was too late. He looked around and saw Seth's operator on her knees crying close to the freight elevator. He walked forwards, staring at the dropship as it got smaller and smaller.

"Goodbye Seth. Good luck."

Later on that morning, Ellysia woke up and stretched. She and Seth sometimes slept in separate rooms. To be cooped up in an underground base everyday with the same people could get arduous after a while, so they had separate room so they could both have their own space. Ellysia swung her legs round and sat on the side of her bed, rubbing one hand down her face she saw a piece of paper in the corner of her eye. She eyed it curiously and reluctantly picked it up. Her heart rate tripled, and she feared that she knew what was coming. Slowly, she unfolded the letter and began reading. She didn't make it past the first line before she started to cry.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Line Ark

The place was astounding; Seth struggled to comprehend the size of it all. Line Ark was huge, the city was huge. While most of the city was submerged underwater, the massive bridge ran all the way into the horizon on both ends and it looked like most of what made up Line Ark was situated on the bridge itself. Seth had only been there a day and a half and everything had been sorted. All the Administration had been completed and he was now a member of Line Ark. They did a number of background checks on him to make sure his goal wasn't of malicious intent, but once they came to realize that he was a member of S.H.E.L.L, he was given the all-green and was allowed to enter.

The Linebreaker stayed on the dropship during this time, when he gained permission to enter; they took the dropship and the Next to a hanger bay that had been designated for his use. Seth had quite a few questions he wanted to ask Line Ark but the only thing that the representative told him was that most of the information was classified, and that he would have to gain their trust before they divulged sensitive information.

Line Ark told him about how they supplied every Lynx with a dropship, but as Seth brought his own, they were going to let him keep it. The entire place was much nicer than S.H.E.L.L Central but it wasn't home. Even so, he'd been at S.H.E.L.L for so long, deep underground in the abandoned military base, the expensive, modern feel he got from Line Ark was refreshing. Seth came to realize that this is what happens when you have power and money, you can afford a little luxury. He'd fought in cities before but he hadn't lived in one. It was still affected by the pollution but that didn't mar its majesty.

Seth was stationed in a separate facility from the main bridge. The base was where most of Line Ark's Normal pilots and Lynx were stationed including White Glint's. He hoped to meet the Lynx, the man or woman who would help his ideals come to fruition.

Seth was sat in his room. He had a television, but aside from the League propaganda channel, Line Ark had a broadcasting studio and with it, their own channel. It wasn't on all day but what was on was more informative, with only a fraction of the propaganda. There was a kitchen in the next room as well as a bathroom through the door at the foot of his bed which he was sat on. There were also windows that had a good view of the city; Seth enjoyed the natural light bathing his room. He soaked in the glamour of it all. He had already unpacked his clothes but found new clothes in the drawers, Line Ark were giving him everything he needed.

Seth decided that it was time for some exploring, so he left the confines of his room, picked a direction and walked. He had a vague idea that he was walking in the direction of the hanger which stored the Linebreaker. He was happy to know that each Next had its own hanger, meaning that it wouldn't be too cramped. After walking for a while he found himself in exactly where he thought he would be; the hanger. The Linebreaker was docked up against the wall, the new paint job making it look far more powerful than ever. The bay had a few engineers in overalls doing some odd jobs but what stood out was the plain clothed short haired woman standing in the middle looking at his Next. He walked up to her side and looked at it too.

"So what do you think, pretty cool huh?" The woman kept her composure so much, she didn't even flinch, and just turned to Seth.

"It is indeed an impressive looking machine. Are you it's Lynx?" Seth stuck out his hand as an attempt of a greeting.

"I am. The name's Seth Torbrasko." The woman grabbed his hand and shook it lightly.

"I'm Fiona Jarnefeldt, the Operator for White Glint." This revelation shocked him, and his eyes widened as a response, Fiona smiled back at him.

"Huh, I didn't expect to bump in the White Glint's Operator like this."

"Well we've just come back from a mission a day ago, and I heard that we had a new Lynx join our ranks. I wanted to see for myself." Seth calmed down considerably.

"Well, I was just exploring, this place is big."

"It's not as big as you think, they seal off the parts that aren't being used, which is over half the base at the moment."

"Really, how many other Lynx besides me have joined up?"

"You're the first."

"You mean that Line Ark has only has two Next's to their name?"

"Yeah, but more will join I hope." Seth looked down at his feet.

"Me too." Suddenly, a mobile phone began ringing. Seth had been given one after he had been accepted in, the place was big enough that was easier for personnel to be contacted by phone; however, it wasn't his phone that was ringing. Fiona pulled her phone out of her trouser pocket and answered it.

"Fiona here… Right… I'm needed for a briefing? Okay, I'll be right there." She snapped the phone shut.

"New mission?"

"Nothing like that, there's just some new information we need to be aware of that may lead to new operations."

"Oh, uhh, fair enough." Fiona began to walk away before turning to him.

"Don't worry, give it time and we'll let you in on our secrets too." Seth smiled at the reassurance.

"Alright then."

"Bye Seth, it was nice meeting you." And with that, she ran off, when she was out of earshot he mumbled to himself.

"Glint's Operator huh, now I just gotta meet the Lynx." With that, he trotted off and explored some more.

He walked for a few minutes when he heard the distinct sound of a crowd of people chatting; he followed it and found what he only thought was the canteen. Many people were eating and chatting amongst each other. Seth guessed that the people in here were not only staff working in the base but also Normal pilots. His stomach rumbled as he remembered that he hadn't had anything to eat in a while so he decided to venture in.

He hadn't made it ten seconds through the door when someone called out to him.

"Oi! Lynx!" Upon hearing this, Seth stopped in his tracks and looked around before looking behind himself. Two men were standing in the doorway he had just walked through and were glaring at him. The entire canteen settled down to see what the cause of the commotion was. Seth pointed to himself.

"Are you talking to me?" The two men approached him, one was big with a bald head, and the only was smaller with short brown hair. The small man muttered to the other one.

"You sure this is the guy, the Next we're looking for was green, not white."

"No. I'd remember the look of it anywhere, it's the one." The man pointed at Seth. "Are you the Lynx for that Next in the hanger we followed you from."

"Who wants to know?" Seth stood defiant at the two men as the bigger man clenched his fist. He started speaking in a slow deliberate tone.

"Answer the question now. Are you the Lynx?" The two men we standing in front of him now, the unknown aggressor was a bit bigger than him and Seth had to look up slightly, but Seth wasn't easily intimidated.

"Yeah, I'm the Lynx for the Next in the hanger."

"Did you clear out a mine that was controlled by Line Ark just over a week ago?" This question worried Seth, there could be no chance that being honest would do him any good, but it was obvious to him that this man in front of him wouldn't take no for an answer, he already knew what the answer was.

"Yes. I had a mission to attack the mine and…" Before he could finish this sentence, the man grabbed Seth's collar, swung him around and pushed him against the wall next to the door. Seth stared at his attacker

"I almost thought I wouldn't get this chance. Now I can get payback for you killing my brother."

"You brother?" Seth responded.

"Yes, you killed him, you killed Syren." Upon hearing the name of the Sergeant, Seth flashbacked to his encounter in the mine, everything from hearing out his proposal to delivering the final blow. It all came back to him; Seth looked away from the man that had him pinned to the wall.

"Syren? I remember him well. He fought hard and died fighting for what he believed him." The brother released him; his face grew red with fury.

"It was you!" Syren's brother pulled back his fist ready to swing, Seth tried to get out of the way but his back was against the wall, there was no escape. The brother's fist caught Seth square on the cheek and sent him crashing to floor like a ton of bricks. Seth attempted to recover but it was apparent to him that all the rage was put into the punch and he pain was staggering. Syren's brother was about to grab him when Seth drew upon all his strength to raise his hand.

"Wait, I didn't want to kill him, I respected him." To Seth's surprise, this stopped the brother dead, he used this opportunity to stand back up, using the wall as a brace. He let out a couple painful coughs."Sure, I went there to kill everyone for the League, but he approached me and asked if I wanted to join Line Ark. He's the reason I'm here. I respected him because he believed in what he fought for; he even told me that I had to kill him. I didn't want to, because I believed in the same ideals as he did." The pain was subsiding and he stood up straight, looking the Sergeant's brother eye to eye. He was relieved to see the anger had begun to diminish. "I'm sorry for killing him, really. I'm here because of him and I'll fight on his behalf, since we share the same ideals. He was an amazing man."

A small moment passed, the pair never breaking eye contact, the grieving brother clenched and unclench his fists several times, unsure with what to do. He grunted and stormed pass Seth and out of the canteen. The smaller man looked at Seth and then back at the departed brother and followed him, not uttering a word. Seth let out a weary sigh and forgot all about his hunger, the rest of the canteen got back to what they were doing now that the drama had passed them. He decided to leave in case someone else wanted revenge for a pilot he killed and walked back his room.

Upon entering the white, clean room he checked the mirror in the backroom to assess the damage. His cheek was bruised and slightly swollen, it ached considerably. He couldn't fathom the coincidence of meeting the brother of Syren like that. He must have been told that it was Seth that killed him and was shown an image of the Next that did it, and when he saw the Next in the hanger, he hunted Seth down until the fateful confrontation. Seth had killed multiple pilots in that mine but remembering Syren like he did truly made him feel regretful, but he also remembered that that was the reason he was there, in order to change the world and make it so that battles like that would perhaps stop. It was a long shot but he wanted to try.

As Seth's mind wandered whilst he stared at the damage to his face he thought of his home at S.H.E.L.L Central and all that lived there. He hoped that he wouldn't have to fight them, leaving them behind had been a tough decision but he believed his ideals called for that action, but he hoped that his ideals wouldn't call for their sacrifice too. Seth believed he didn't have it in him to kill his former lover and friends and he prayed he'd never have to make that choice.  
Suddenly a phone call aroused him from his daydreaming. He reached into his pocket and pulled it out and answered it.

"Hello? This is Seth." The voice on the other end sounded professional and formal.

"Mr Torbrasko, this is the representative that you spoke to when you arrived. We have your first mission to discuss with you as well as a couple of other things. Please come to briefing room 1L17."

"Can you give me ten minutes before I head out?"

"Of course, that is fine. I do hope you are settling in well."

"I'm doing fine, mostly."

"Glad to hear. We remember that you left your former Operator at home. Is this correct?"

"Yeah, so?"

"We would like to introduce you to your new Operator."

"I'll be there soon."

"Thank you Mr Torbrasko, we'll see you shortly." Seth hung up the phone, flipping it shut and plopping it back into his pocket. He stared at the mirror one last time.

"Time to get to work."


End file.
